RaisingDad

My Dad walks every day-- EVERY day--rain or shine.      Only today isn't rainy, it's shiney.  Very shiney, as in hot!   It's hot, and I've just made my dad happy.  I've bought him a new pair of walking shoes, and, let me tell you, they weren't cheap.       The problem is this: my 93 year-old Dad's feet hurt him when he walks.  They hurt him when he wakes up in the morning, and they hurt him when he lays his head down at night to go to sleep.  They hurt him when he eats, and they hurt him when he's hogging the TV watching...  well, you know what he likes to watch.  They just plain hurt him.  But, the thing is, he doesn't blame his feet.       He blames his shoes.      I drive to Willcox, Arizona on occassion.  And every time I do I see an old man jogging down the road.  It never fails, he's always jogging.  With a big smile o...

My Dad walks every day-- EVERY day--rain or shine.  Part of me wishes he'd stay home, that way we can keep an eye on him, but another part of me realizes that when he's not here I don't have to watch baseball on TV.      I've mentioned before that I enjoy hiking, so I know a thing or two about shoes.  My Dad benefits from this knowledge, and, as a result, wears the best shoes my money can buy.  I say  my money, because my Dad can afford to pay for his shoes himself, but affording to and actually taking out your wallet and doing it are two separate things.      Many a time we've gone to Sam's, and I'll see three or four items in our cart that magically appear out of nowhere.  It could be a pack of 50 little cheeses with a smiling cow on the label.  I like cheese, but I don't want to eat fifty little packages of them.  Neither does my Dad, although he doesn't realize it when he's putting it in the cart....

Lest you think I consider my Dad a burden, I don't.  It's just if all I wrote about were unicorns and rainbows, both you and I would be bored.       Besides, I find everything my Dad does incredibly entertaining.  Maybe not at the time, but when I look back.  Now I understand the saying, "I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you."  I'm not laughing at my Dad, because I'm just like him.  I'm laughing with him because I can see what the future has in store for me.       Old age takes pity on no one.      One of the reasons we bought this particular house, is because it had a small guest house in the front where we knew Dad could live and have his privacy.  It was a way of him keeping his independence, and yet letting us keep an eye on him at the same time.       In his home away from home he has his own TV with its...