Mickey's Memories...

There have been a couple of times lately when I've been in a situation or heard something said that triggered a memory of growing up with dad, so I am going to start documenting those memories.

Driving to work this morning the thermometer in the truck showed that it was 27 degrees out. As I was walking from the parking lot to the School of Business it felt even colder than that, so I picked up my pace to get out of the cold. I was taking some pretty good strides and was thinking about how warm it was going to be once I stepped inside the heated building when I noticed the sound of someone coming up behind me at a faster pace. At first I was thinking that I was walking pretty fast, so the person coming up behind me must have some long legs; then as I looked over a saw the legs of the young man passing me taking much bigger steps than me, I flashed back in my minds eye to trying to keep up with dad as we were walking somewhere. Dad was never slow to get places, he always walked fast and with purpose.

Tonight as dad was getting undressed to change into his pajamas, I asked if his pants were ready for the laundry or if they could be worn again. As dad held his pants out for me to see that they were still clean, I said "They look like they'd be okay for another wearing." To which dad jokingly replied, "Yeah, they'll be good for at least another week or two." After dad's reply, I could hear him in my head singing "Black socks they never get dirty, the longer I wear them the blacker they get. Sometimes I think I should change 'em, but something keeps telling me, 'Oh no not yet!'"

Reality - TV

Dad has a hard time following the storyline of TV programs. After a few minutes of watching with us, he either says, "I just don't get what's going on." or "Didn't we just see this show yesterday?" The last comment usually comes if the show is a part of a series...he sees the same actors and thinks we already saw the show. But lately, he has also had a hard time separating what is happening on the TV with reality.

Living in this remodeling project that we call home, we watch a lot of HGTV's shows about remodeling. The other day we were watching the show Property Brothers. These two brothers are twins and one is a realtor and the other is a contractor. They find people that want to move, either to upgrade to a bigger home or get closer to work or something. After talking to the couple and finding out what they want in their new house and what their budget is, they take them to the perfect house that has all their wants, but of course is WAY over their budget. Then they show them a couple of other properties that are in their price-range, but usually need some TLC and remodeling. The contractor shows the couple two designs for the remodeled houses and the couple decides which house they want to go with. In the one we were watching, a couple was choosing the design for their daughter's room and couldn't agree between the wild wallpaper the wife wanted and just paint, which is what the husband wanted. The contractor brother had to mediate the decision and the couple was able to agree on a more subdued wallpaper. After the scene, dad piped up and said, "So what are we gonna do?" I was a little confused because that is usually what he says when he gets bored and wants to go somewhere, so I said, "What?" Then dad asked, "What are we gonna do, use wallpaper or paint?"