Friday, July 6, 2012

On Duty...

As I was heading to bed at 1:30 this morning, I noticed dad's bedroom light on. Sometimes in the middle of the night he gets up to go the bathroom and leaves the light on, so I opened the door to check on him & turn the light off. There was dad just standing there in his jammies with his shoes on. I told him him it was almost 2 o'clock in the morning and he should go back to bed. He replied that he didn't know where his glassess were. I told him they were right on the lampshade where he hangs them every night before bed, but that he didn't need them right now because it's the middle of the night and he needed to go back to bed.

Dad walked over to the lamp, picked his glasses, and put them on. Once again I reminded him that it was the middle of the night and he should go back to bed. I even thought that telling him he was up pretty early today and that his body should be tired and ready for bed might coax him, but nope...he just looked at me and told me. "I've got duty." So I joined his reality and said, "if you've got duty you better get to bed so you'll be rested."

Dad just stood there looking at me very seriously for a while, then very politely said, "You need to leave." I told him I was waiting for him to get in bed, so I could turn the light off for him. This time he took a few steps closer and said "You need to leave, I'm on duty." Realizing I was not going to be able to win on this one I just told him, "Okay, but stay in your room" and left his room. I then made sure the front door was locked (all our door locks require a key, so dad can't just turn a button and wander out) and went to bed. 

Two hours later when I went to check on him, he was in bed with the covers over his head and the light still on...I guess his shift was over! 

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