I was just reading a blog that shall remain nameless and it talked about Indiana and why the author loved Indiana so much. And it pointed out, not the weather or certainly not the scenery or the attitude of the people, but it pointed out that Indiana was where the author's memories lived. I looked up from the written page and stroked my chin and thought back to my own past and settled on a time when I lived outside of Chicago around 1973, as I recall.
We were headed back to our suburban retreat from my in-laws home in the inner city and it was Christmas night. Brad was only about 7 months old and my older boy Stuart was around 4. We were kind of sad because my wife's father had just suffered a stroke and was only a shell of his old self. All he would do was sit around staring into the distance and then drop off to sleep without a moment's notice. The mood was solemn and somber. I broke the silence with an idea. I casually said to my wife, that grandpa didn't hardly seem like himself until one very special moment. That was followed by a long silence. Finally she bit. What do you mean, she asked? I explained that I tried to talk with him, in an attempt to spark some recognition in him and wake up the "old" Grandpa. I told everyone how I told grandpa the story about how I got robbed at gunpoint while working on Chicago's south side, by a masked gunman. He surprised me while I was getting out of my car and took all of my cash and jewelry. Suddenly, out of a deep sleep, I noticed how grandpa had suddenly shook to consciousness and just stared at me. I could see as the seconds skipped by, that his ability to absorb information around him was growing stronger and stronger. Then, with anticipation, I watch his face start to form a word or two that was about to come from his mouth. At first his mouth just trembled and formed an N sound. What, what is it? What are you trying to say??? I looked over at both my wife and my son and recognized intense interest. They both looked like they were watching a horror movie and the monster was about to break into the house!
We were headed back to our suburban retreat from my in-laws home in the inner city and it was Christmas night. Brad was only about 7 months old and my older boy Stuart was around 4. We were kind of sad because my wife's father had just suffered a stroke and was only a shell of his old self. All he would do was sit around staring into the distance and then drop off to sleep without a moment's notice. The mood was solemn and somber. I broke the silence with an idea. I casually said to my wife, that grandpa didn't hardly seem like himself until one very special moment. That was followed by a long silence. Finally she bit. What do you mean, she asked? I explained that I tried to talk with him, in an attempt to spark some recognition in him and wake up the "old" Grandpa. I told everyone how I told grandpa the story about how I got robbed at gunpoint while working on Chicago's south side, by a masked gunman. He surprised me while I was getting out of my car and took all of my cash and jewelry. Suddenly, out of a deep sleep, I noticed how grandpa had suddenly shook to consciousness and just stared at me. I could see as the seconds skipped by, that his ability to absorb information around him was growing stronger and stronger. Then, with anticipation, I watch his face start to form a word or two that was about to come from his mouth. At first his mouth just trembled and formed an N sound. What, what is it? What are you trying to say??? I looked over at both my wife and my son and recognized intense interest. They both looked like they were watching a horror movie and the monster was about to break into the house!
Finally my son said, what did grandpa say? I timed it perfectly and waited until their anticipation would wait no longer and slowly formed an N with my mouth and sang out, NAH, NAH NAH NAH, NAH NAH NAH, NAH NAH NAH, NAH NA NAH, If you know how to pony, pony-y-y-y-y......
No comments:
Post a Comment