When I started this A toZ blog, I knew that some letters would prove to be a challenge. But, strangely enough, most days have fallen into place- until today and the last letter of the alphabet. Don and I batted some Z ideas back and forth as we drove to Muncie to see Dave this morning. What conclusions did we come to? Zero, Zilch.
While visiting with Dave, I explained to him what I was doing with this A to Z blog. He laughed and said, "That's probably hard to do."
Now remember that some disease is certainly attacking David, and the doctors say it is Alzheimer's. But his mind is a hundred times better than Mother's, who has never been diagnosed with anything but senility. So I asked Dave if he could think of any Z words.
Immediately he answered with a big laugh, "Zelma!" Who knows, with Dave's many girl friends from his young days, maybe there was a Zelma.
Anyway, we all laughed, and I told Dave that I thought that X would be my hardest challenge.
"Do you know how many X words are in my dictionary?
Dave said, "Five?" Well, he wasn't far from right. There are eight!
On the way home from Muncie I remarked that I wished that "ME ZOO" was still open. We could visit it today, and have Z all taken care of. Although, after all the many, many zoo visits we have made over the years with kids and then grandkids, I have a little trouble working up much enthusiasm for trudging around with my new hip on a hot summer day. So, instead, we decided to drive through Cammack and have lunch at our newly discovered, secret, favorite place to eat lunch, Cammack Station.
HELP! The whole world seems to have discovered our secret. Cammack Station was, indeed,
a ZOO. It was packed with diners, both inside, and the outdoor patios, too. It was very noisy and crowded, and their pick -up- order- system was overwhelmed. No one could hear the speakers. When the girl called out, "Don, your order is ready.", a woman (who said her name was Dawn) ran over and picked up the tray. Don very politely asked if she was sure that was her order, and she said, "Yes, did you get tenderloins?"
Don said, "No," and slunk back to his seat. In a few minutes Dawn came sheepishly back across the room, and brings us our BLT's. We all had a good laugh.
Later in the afternoon, after we all had naps, Mother awakened thoroughly confused. She didn't know where she was, who she was, or who we were. She kept insisting that someone was coming to pick her up and take her home. Well, once we had her settled down, we needed a break from the frustration. So we escaped and went to play the slot machines for a half hour.
God bless the new casino. Without that escape, Don would never survive this ordeal with his mother.
SO, how much did we win? ZERO! ZILCH!
Hmmm - is "slunk" a word?
I think it's interesting how the mind works with Alzheimer's. Dad seems to remember lots of vocabulary that you don't use in everyday conversations. But he's using them now. I remember asking him how long he had been doing something, and his answer was, 'oh, for a period of time.' I thought that was a great answer when you can't really remember the answer!
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