Friday, March 13, 2015

Checking in on Jim's Dad

So, yesterday, Jim picked up Joshua from his Therapeutic Recreation, and they headed down to his parent's house to check on his Dad. They were down there for several hours without sending any updates, when I finally decided to text Jim and ask him WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS GOING ON?

Jim said that his dad had been out crushing cans, and was now sitting in their living room yelling at the top of his lungs about things...this and that. In other words, pretty normal.

He said they had gone out for dinner, and if I had seen what all his Dad ate, I would either not think he was feeling bad...or wonder why he wasn't feeling worse.

Jim said that he spent last night, and most of this morning, trying to help both of his parents with their technology. Jim's dad has an iPAD, and Jim just got his mom a Kindle Fire for Christmas. Neither one of them have a clue what they are doing, but they are trying to figure things out. Jim's dad clicks on everything. When it doesn't do what he wants it to do, or it's not fast enough, or he thinks he's made a mistake...he just starts clicking every button or app known to man.

He also shakes his iPAD like an etch-a-sketch, when it doesn't do what he wants it to do.

Yeah.

I told Jim that I was surprised and happy at how PATIENT he was being with them...because when it's me or the kids, he seems to get easily frustrated. He said, "oh...there's been yelling."

Jim's family yells. Or, hollers, might be more like it. They don't have to be mad...they are just very LOUD. Like, "PLEASE PASS THE SALT!"

Goodness gracious.

Jim also said that they had Chick-Fil-A for breakfast...and POPEYES for lunch. Which, I'm pretty sure POPEYES is on the list of dietary restrictions for someone with heart disease...someone who had just been in the hospital with chest pains.

I think I read this on Melanie Shankle's blog one time...that when it comes to healthy food, "Popeyes don't qualify."

Or words to that effect.

The main thing Jim wanted to do was to set up an IG account for his mom, and then show her how to work it. He said he got it all fixed for her, and added some of the family members. He said that when he and Joshua left, she was sitting in her chair scrolling through WEEKS of pictures, just as tickled as she could be.

Last night, while Jim and Joshua were gone, I took Clark and Holly out for dinner. We had a good time. Afterwards, we dropped Holly off at her house, and then Clark and I came home. When Jim is gone, Clark likes to sleep downstairs on the couch...even tho I told him I wasn't scared, and BEGGED him to sleep in his own bed in his own room. He wouldn't hear of it, and posted up on the couch with all of the throw-blankets.

The only bad part about this is that he wanted to go to bed at 10...and I usually stay up a little later. So, I went back to my bedroom and crashed.

I woke up this morning and sat straight up in the bed. It was nearly 7:30 IN THE MORNING. I glanced out of my bedroom door toward the living room, and it was completely dark! At 7:30 IN THE MORNING. I jumped up and ran in there. Clark was still sacked out. I said, "Clark! It's 7:30!"

You have never seen anyone get ready so fast.

And even tho I don't pack his lunch for him anymore, I did today...while he grabbed his clothes for track and made himself a cup of coffee before flying out the door.

All of this just proved what Jim's been saying all along, and that is that things would fall apart around here without him.

Well, he doesn't actually SAY that to us...but we all know he thinks it.

And now we all know he is right.

Well, he doesn't know about what happened this morning, so no one tell him.

Also, while we are keeping secrets...he usually gets the newspapers from the front sidewalk, first thing every morning...and reads some of it before he goes to work. Today? I didn't even think about the papers until, ohhhh...maybe 3 in the afternoon. So, yeah...they sat out there all day in the rain.

Shhhhhh...

He would never let me forget it if he knew that we do barely function without him.

Also, even tho he was only gone one night and I DID miss him, it showed me what a good night's sleep feels like. You know, where no one is getting up at the CRACK O'DAWN to go run outside in the pitch black...no one crashing around in the kitchen looking for that green frying pan to make an egg...stuff like that.

Also, Jim's dad just texted him to tell him that their power is out. They feel like, since Jim works for the utility company, their power should never go out. But, if it DOES happen to go out, it should be the first one to be fixed. Jim always tells them to call the 1-800 number, but they say, "YOU KNOW WE DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO THAT."

Tonight, Jim's dad's text said that they had, in fact, called the 1-800 number to report the outage...but their power was still out.

It had been 20 whole minutes.

HURRY UP, ENTERGY.

Jim got on-line to check it, and told them there were 219 outages in their area.

Jim's dad said, "no, it's just us."

Jim said, "I'M LOOKING AT THE COMPUTER SCREEN RIGHT NOW. There are 219 other customers who are out of power in your area."

Jim's dad said, "YOUR MOTHER HAS BEEN DRIVING AROUND...and everyone else has power but us."

"Do everything without complaining..." Philippians 2:14

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