The old man...

Okay, it's Sunday morning at 0600 hrs. I've been up for an hour... can't seem to be able to sleep past 0330-0430 anymore, no matter what time I hit the sack. I've read emails, sent emails, read horoscopes, the headline news, cleaned out mailboxes, smoked ten cigarettes and am now on the blog. My wife is still sleeping so I'll post this then go play some online poker or something.

J (my wife) and I took my father out to dinner last night at O'Blarney's. While we were there our son and his girlfriend stopped by. They were going to the show next door... gonna watch some mushy film or something... I have to laugh about it, watching my son get domesticated slowly but surely by his girlfriend. You married guys out there most likely can identify with what I'm saying. Either way she's a keeper...

Anyways, back to dinner with Dad. If you've never been to O'Blarney's you should go. It probably has the best steak for the buck (my preference is the Cajun steak). We didn't order steak last night... had the seafood platter instead. But the food and company was great.

Mom passed away on January 1, 2005 so Dad's still getting over her... hell, we all are. He's never truly going to get "over her". She was a huge part of his life for 67 years. They were married for 63, almost 64 years. So, after she passed on we were all concerned about Dad. He was really down in the dumps (understandable) and wouldn't eat, couldn't sleep, didn't want to do anything. Now don't get me wrong... the old man is hard, he's the epitome of macho and has the battle scars to prove himself. He was a warrior in WWII, serving in the Army for 22 years. He was one of the first Special Forces soldiers in WWII... a member of the "Alamo Scouts". His life back then was New Guinea, Phillipines and other Pacific Island jungles full of enemies that he and the rest of his group had to monitor without being detected. He lived off of the land for extended periods of time (over a year per stint) without any real support and with a knowing enemy looking for him, all the while reporting back to his command the troop strengths, locations, etc. of the enemy. In short, he must have done things right because the enemy lost that war, he's still alive and he can talk about it without going into a tearful frenzy. All the while Mom was "stateside" waiting for him to "come home".

So, given the circumstances, knowing much of what they went through during their 67 years together it's totally understandable and even expected for Dad to have his "moments". Last night though, I think it was a breakthrough of sorts... I think he's liking life again. At 83 years old that can be hard to do. He talked about all kinds of things from Mom to O'Blarney's to fishing and pictures. We laughed, joked and remembered together. After I paid the bill we all sat around at the table and kept it up. It was a healthy evening...

He's over the hump I think... he'll always remember Mom, will talk with her from time to time but realizes he has others around him who love, respect and need him here. When J and I got home from that dinner we watched the movie "The notebook" or something like that with James Gardner in it. It was purely coincidental... we had no idea what the movie was about but, thanks to Netflix, ordered it and subsequently watched it. If you haven't seen it you should! While I watched I couldn't help but think how much it told me about my own father's life... especially how he must feel today. I certainly wouldn't recommend it to him... it would most likely open those recent wounds that are starting to heal but truly understand his devotion to Mom and hers to him.

Okay, enough said. I'm getting off of here for now and going to play some online free poker at a $25.00 player limit table.

If any of you are in there look me up. ciao for now.

Sunday, February 13, 2005 7:34:05 AM