A Day With Pops and TT...

Pops fell at the home today, 3rd time in 3 days. This time he went to the ER. So I met my niece, Tiffany, over there and we went through the routine of the CT scans and the heart monitors and the IVs...yada yada yada. Pops fell because of a new med that makes him drowsy and a fall-risk...so-make the drug a bed time drug, with less fall risk problems. We listened to Pops talk on and on...made him comfortable...listened to his unconnected stories...got him dressed...drove him home to the nursing facility and got him to his room.

It's difficult to watch this 94-year-old man who was a very successful business man and real estate investor become a little bony, rambling wizened man. He saw quite a bit of history in his day. He lived when Ellis Island immigrates were NOT particularly wanted (sound a little familiar?) and when being Jewish meant not getting hired or staying hired and marking "Catholic" on the "what is your religion" line on the employment form was job security...yes, they used to ask that...can you believe it?

He came in to my life when I was 18...that's a lot of life to share with someone. He's been around for marriages, babies, baptisms, missions, grandbabies, the whole shebang. I guess what this rambling post has to say is, I don't know how to sum up a life spent with someone when that life dwindles down to a slow spin. We live in fear of losing someone suddenly to a car accident or a catastrophic disease that would take them from us relatively quickly and chaotically, but these lives that go on for decades and then leave incrementally; the moments are so tender, so painful, so sweet and so funny, they leave us raw, frightened and somehow edified. What a ride this journey is. I'm so blessed to have this family on board together...and so grateful for this day spent with Tiff, Pops and me...very tender and sweet...very.