This morning I was awoken at 5 by my alarm and the sound of pouring rain and ferocious wind. I peeked out the window into the misty grey but couldn’t see any sign of the sunrise. So I went back to bed!
Today is Father’s Day so Ming and I went into the nursing home before lunch with our presents. Mine was a dozen oysters (which I picked up from the markets on the way in) and the DVD cooking series, Two Fat Ladies, which Anthony, Ming and I used to love watching. Ming’s gift was the English series, Doc Martin, and a bottle of champagne.
The oysters were a great hit:
Anthony finished the whole lot in about two minutes!
My mother came in after church and helped us snack on crackers and some special cheeses I’d bought, with olives, cherry tomatoes and baby cucumber, then Ming arrived and gave Anthony the presents which were also a hit. A bit later, we played some of the DVDs and cracked the champagne but Ants only had a couple of sips before falling asleep in his chair. My mother had gone home by then and eventually Ming left.
After that, I tidied and washed up the various plates and cutlery I keep in one of Anthony’s cupboards, then sat down to watch another episode of Two Fat Ladies with him, but he continued to sleep and, all of a sudden, I felt terribly flat and just wanted to come home to Ming, so I did. But Ming has now retired to his shed for the night and I am coming to terms with the fact that I am somewhat redundant in his life – perfectly normal of course but still hard.
When Anthony wakes up will he wonder where I am after the frivolity of this morning? I told his favourite nurse, Denise, that this is the first time I have left without saying goodbye but I didn’t want to wake him as he looked so peaceful, so she said she would tell him.
All of a sudden, even though he has been on my mind all day, I am consumed by the remembered agony of losing my father suddenly to a heart attack when I was nineteen and my younger brothers were seventeen and fifteen. Those brothers have become the most amazing dads to their children (five each!) I bet they think, with my mother, of our Dad today. He was a generous, beautiful gentleman.
Anyway, back to the sunrise fiasco – I am just going to check the weather forecast for tomorrow ….
jmgoyder 