PAPPAW CONVILLE

BC's Daddy is QUITE the character. Over the past 37 years, I have grown to know him really well. There are LEGIONS of Pappaw stories and the grandchildren and children love to get together and laugh over them. At 87, he still works 1/2 a day five days a week. We sometimes think he measures his worth by how much he has made that week. While he is slowing down-certainly-he still functions at a high level day to day. What Pappaw wants-Pappaw gets MOST of the time.

Nannie & Pappaw live in the independent living apartments attached to a nursing home in Arcadia. Nannie has not enjoyed the good health that Pappaw has and is not able to cook or tend to their house. She was in the nursing home for a period of time, but since Pappaw's open heart surgery a few years ago they have lived in the apartment. It has been a good fit as they walk next door and have their meals in the nursing home dining room. All seemed to be going well, with a few ups and downs, until Friday. In the middle of another roller coaster Stock market day, BC, receives a call about his Daddy. It seems that Pappaw has been expelled from the dining room in the nursing home. NOW THINK ABOUT THIS! Pappaw, 87 year old Pappaw, has misbehaved and they have punished him by expelling him from the dining hall. When we took them their usual lunch yesterday (another good story), he related the story to us. It seems, according to his version, that he has been totally misunderstood and the administrator has overreacted and punished him harshly. When you hear the entire story, it is hilarious. I laughed and told BC that when our kids misbehaved we had SOME leverage over them, but YOUR PARENTS-WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO!

What brought this entire theme up for today's blog was the fact that BC has to get his Dad's car repaired. You see the heater is not working on his car and since it gets down to at least 65 at night(he does not drive at night), we need it fixed NOW. While very independent, he does ask for-well more like demand-help-RIGHT NOW occasionally. He needs BC to get his car repaired in Ruston, but it can only be on a Monday-since that is his day off from work. We have spent a great deal of the afternoon trying to figure out how to get the car from Arcadia to Ruston, worked on, and back to Pappaw. OH AND BY THE WAY, he needs to get the car back ASAP since he might want to go to the Post Office or run an errand or two. BC does not have a moment to take a breathe during these days at his office, much less, run back and forth to Arcadia in the MIDDLE of a Monday.

We finally determined we will go get the car tonight and leave my car in Arcadia. We will take the car to the shop and leave it for an early morning fix. I will ride my bike to the shop and get the car and take it to Arcadia and bring my car home. It has to be easier to "Fix The Economy" than to try to figure out all the logistics of this operation -WITHOUT inconveniencing Pappaw.

PAPPAW-YOU HAVE GOTTA LOVE HIM & NOW I HAVE ONE MORE STORY TO ADD TO THE COLLECTION!