My report tonight is based partly on what my sister Martha told me about Dad's birthday and on my visit to Utah last week.
Martha said that our sister Lucy made him a wonderful cake, and lots of family came to see him. Dad said to Martha at one point, "It's wonderful that so many people I love have come to see me when I'm so far away!" I was sorry he didn't understand better where he was, but glad he felt so pleased and honored to have so many of his loved ones around him on his birthday.
I have two pictures of Dad from his birthday, but it t looks like I'll have to put them at the end--I can't figure out how to add text after them!
I was in Utah from August 12-18, and I was able to see Dad three times while I was there. The first time I saw him, I was expecting him to give me the excited greeting he gives most people who visit--"Oh, how good to see you! You look wonderful," etc. Instead, he acted as if I had just stepped out of the room for a minute or two. I decided that was what I wanted--for him not to know I was gone for months and months.
Dad told me he hurt from head to toe--something unusual for him to admit to. I found the nurse and she brought him Tylenol, and by the end of our visit he was feeling better. I found myself adjusting his pillows for his head and for his feet, and I asked him what he'd call the small blanket or throw he had over his feet, saying I wasn't sure what to call it. He chuckled and said, "I don't call it anything!"
I told Dad another story about New York City. Years ago, Mom took Dad to Grand Central Terminal to a place where the ceiling is arched. She stood in one corner, facing the pillar and Dad stood kitty-corner from her, and they could speak to each other. When Christine, Michael, Jeffrey and I were in NYC, we went to Grand Central Terminal, and I asked where the place was, and we talked to each other--first Michael and I and then Christine and I.
Dad said he remembered talking to Mom from across the arched ceiling. I told him I was surprised that I heard the speaker's voice as if they were standing right behind me. I told Christine as we talked corner to corner that we were re-enacting a bit of Craig family history. (My sister Christie asked me how I knew about this place; I explained that I reviewed a book about Grand Central Terminal for my website and it mentioned the arched ceiling, reminding me of Mom and Dad's story. She asked how I knew where to find it. That was easy. I went to the information desk under the clock--also described in the book--and asked how to get there.)
I visited with Dad a few days later with Christie who'd come out to help me work on organizing and getting rid of things in the storage shed. As Dad has done in the past, he enjoyed us talking and chuckled appropriately, interjecting uh-huhs now and then.
When I was visiting with one of my friends in Utah who'd known Dad growing up, she was brought to tears to hear how his ability to speak and carry on a conversation has deteriorated. But I told her that he remains loving and gracious to everyone--a precious thing to retain and certainly as much a part of his essence as his ability to tell a good story, converse intelligently, and speak eloquently.
I visited Dad again just before I left for Pennsylvania, and he was the most aware and able to converse that he'd been during my visit. (Christie had brought a friend in to do cranial sacral massage on Dad because it had helped her so much. I don't know if it had an effect, but it may well have helped him.) I told Dad a funny story about working for the census--that I won't repeat here: they don't want us talking about our work. He laughed and laughed!
On that last visit, Dad remembered Christine, Michael and Jeffrey's visit from the day before--a big surprise to me that he'd remember it that long. He said Jeffrey wasn't shy, and when I said he didn't have a picture of Jeffrey on his wall with his other great-grandchildren, he said, "Oh, yes," and pointed out where Jeffrey's picture had been put up--another surprise.
Dad was so loving that day, and it was emotional parting for me since I don't know if I'll see him again--though he's certainly lived far longer than we thought, and his health seems good despite his aches and pains the first day I was there.
It was bittersweet to see him--lovely to be with him, but hard to leave. I'm comforted as always by the care he gets at the facility. One of the aides who saw me on my first visit, interrupted what she was doing to come and greet me, Nancy Valdez's niece who works in the kitchen took pictures of him on his birthday for me--and for me to share on the blog, and he's obviously a favorite with the staff.
He's also faithfully visited by his home teachers once a month--Fred Huff and his companion Dick Christensen--and Fred and his wife, Jeannine, also visit another time during the month. Family members visit him often, and other friends and ward members also stop by. If Pennsylvania and Utah were just a little closer to each other, I'd be completely content!
Thank you for reading and caring--as we do--about our wonderful dad!
Here are the pictures of Dad on his 94th birthday:
