"H" - Happy to See Harry D.

We make a weekly trip to Muncie to see my older brother, Harry David. We have always called him David, although he is named after our grandfather, Harry Lininger. David is in a nursing home. He started out there in the Alzheimer's Unit, but is now in the Skilled Nursing Unit.
We are always happy to go see David.

The last two weeks weren't such good visits, though. The Alzheimer's seems to have attacked his body more than his mind. That is the reason he must have skilled nursing. He has confusions, but he understands and makes jokes, remembers many things from our childhood, and enters into conversations making pretty good sense. In other words, he is fun to visit. But at the last two visits, his body seemed to be getting much worse. He is quite bent at knees and neck, and looked very uncomfortable in his chair. He needed a hair cut, and looked untidy. He just didn't seem to feel as well as usual , or to be as happy.

So today, as we set out, I felt a little blue and dreaded the visit. It was a grey, cloudy morning
and we had had trouble the evening before and this morning making Mother understand things.
But Mother Nature had other plans for us, and soon took over the morning. She planted a rambunctious puppy at Pulaski Park. We spied him, ears flopping and tongue out, pulling his poor owner down a path. So funny. Then across from Lucy's Diner in a muddy farm field, we
spy a Mallard Duck trying its best to believe that a mud puddle was a pond. Poor thing. When
we got on I69 we see a big old black and white cow up to its haunches right in the middle of
a farm pond. It could teach that duck a thing or two. And right then, the sun popped out!
Whew! Things were looking better.

When we got to the Golden Living Center (now there's a misnomer), we found Dave sitting up pretty well in his chair, all slicked up with a new haircut and in his Colts hat. The lounge was
already full of folks dozing in their wheel chairs, so we pushed Dave on down to the big dining room. Now I will say that the folks at this facility seem to make every effort to keep their residents comfortable, clean, and happy. Believe me. good health care workers are a treasure.

The dining room is a pretty room, surrounded by glass windows, looking out on a green lawn and
a gazebo. It was a warm, sunny place this morning. Dave thoroughly enjoyed his coffee and honey bun. We enjoyed a good conversation. He remembered working in downtown Anderson as a teen. He remembered Carl Erskine's name. Carl is the famous Dodger pitcher who still lives in Anderson. Dave and Don talked at length about it being Pole Day at the Indy 500. Dave loves the 500 Race, and worked there as a timer at many races. Of course, he hadn't realized it was May, or that it was Pole Day until Don mentioned it, but was very happy to be reminded and to reminisce about his favorite hobby. David told me he feels well, sleeps well, and has no pains.
What could be better than that.

On the way home, the sun shone brightly, and we stopped off at Cammack, a tiny little one-intersection town that is West of Muncie, and North of Yorktown. At Cammack I picked up my favorite sandals that had been repaired at the shoe repair shop there. I am so happy to have my favorite shoes back and repaired. Then we stopped at Cammack Station, a restaurant created from a historic gas station. It is charming, and the food is delicious. We enjoyed a great BLT sandwich, but reluctantly by-passed the strawberry shortcake. If you are ever in Cammack,
don't by-pass the strawberry shortcake.

After all, happiness comes in varying degrees. Grab it whenever you can!