Birthday Beer

Well I made it to Bishop at 11:00 on Wednesday, November 10 to "celebrate" what was left of my dad's 63rd birthday. To my slight surprise, my dad was already "celebrating" - my mom was finishing pushing some of a Keystone through his g-tube! The fact that it was a Keystone was the most surprising part - I guess it's all that could be scrounged up around here nowadays!

The next day (Thursday), my dad made a hand motion symbolizing "drink" and so I jokingly asked him if that meant he wanted a beer. He nodded. I told him I would go get some for him. Not long thereafter, he slowly got up and started walking out the front door. I tried to put his shoes on but his feet are still too swollen so instead, some leaves stuck to socks - no biggie. This time I was truly surprised when he walked to my truck's passenger door. He really wanted to go get beer. So we went, and got Bud Light, of course!

Later, I didn't know better than to give him the whole can - because, well, why not? He used to drink 20+ and still walk & talk straight! I think this negatively affected his behavior (mixed with all of the meds, of course). We were hoping it would help him sleep but unfortunately, it didn't have the desired effect. We've all been having odd sleep hours to keep 24-hour watch on him. And with that, we've all had some interesting moments with dad, that's for sure.

In pondering all of this, I guess an addiction is an addiction, but for my father I think he had an affection, appreciation, and affinity for beer. As Homer did for "Duff", my dad did for Budweiser. I never really asked him what he derived from drinking besides the obvious, but the more I think about it the more significant I think it was to him - just as much as cars, tools, and Nascar. Not that I'm justifying drinking heavily - I just know it was more than the act of drinking to him - it was a tradition, a comfort, a calling.

Many thanks to all for the birthday cards, thoughts, radio announcement (Aunt Linda, Arnie), haircut (Cyndi), and well-wishes. :-)