The Old Man's Birthday

Today is dad's birthday. It will always be his birthday. I cringe a little when people say "happy heavenly birthday" or "today my dad would be 104 years old." No, no he probably wouldn't have been 104 years old, to be honest. People die and they are the age they were when they died. That's their age. And I for one am not 100% sure about Heaven most of the time.  Sometimes I am and other times I'm not sure.

Suffice to say, May 8th, that's dad's birthday and will always be. 

This picture cracks me up. We walked out of their favorite foodrinkery one day and this motorcycle was outside, with the helmet on it. And he laughed his ass off. 

My dad was not a big reader but those were all words he could read, and boy did it knock is socks off. So I told him to go pose by the helmet. And he did. So forever and ever this will be a photo we look back to with big laughs. We put it in his funeral video, much to the family's joy. So many laughs on this one. 

Dad was game to do whatever I asked him to do and (usually hilarious) pictures resulted. 

One that I don't have any pictures or video of is the time he and Doug built an obstacle course for squirrels on the back step of the trailer. Dad would always put peanuts out for them, and fill the bird feeders dutifully, and he enjoyed watching these furry knuckleheads go about their harvesting of dinner. So an obstacle course made the little bastards work for it. And boy did they ever work for it. 

Seeing him sit in his chair on the porch and just chuckle, well not just chuckle but actually laugh wholeheartedly was so much fun.

For those who know my husband, he has a big laugh. He's big loud when laughing. And my dad wasn't that noisy or boisterous, but I could honestly say he was laughing at his level equal to Doug's level. 

My mother came out and made them take the obstacle course down. She was furious. For as happy as dad was she was furious in equal measure. She said it was mean and unfair. 

Hell no, it wasn't.

Doug dismantled the apparatus. But the smiles lingered. Anyway. There's a lot I could say about my dad, and thinking about him makes me smile. I'll take that to bed with me. 

Goodnight, Dad.
Digits below.

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours; 22 min indoor walk; 8k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 180
4:45pm: 178
10pm: 185

food:
coffee/water
11:15am: leftover little bit of tuna casserole, cold - almost like pasta salad. greatly enjoyed! Metformin
1:30pm: tuna salad on 2 slices of toasted 647 italian bread
6:30pm: 3 chicken thighs, scoop of leftover Doug's cheesy concoction
7pm: metformin+jardiance
red wine