Dreary Days

Dreary days of the Northwest here lately.  Rain rain rain.  Not much sunshine.  We haven't had much wintery stuff, except for the big ice storm the first of January - but yikes we have had dark rainy days.

Another dreary thing is my Dad's decline with his Parkinson's.  My dad has had Parkinson's about 10 years, but it has really kicked his butt this past month.  We can hardly believe the rapid decline.  He is having hallucinations, he talks total nonsense, he is falling more often............ it just isn't very fun.

My dad is the youngest of 5 kids.  He was born in Iowa - moved briefly here in Washington, and then his mom (grandma Grace) moved them down to southern California. My dad did not graduate from high school; he started driving truck, married my mom and had a baby before he was 20!

 Dad has always liked to have a good time and my parents were very social...playing softball, going water skiing, barbeques.... Mom and dad decided they didn't want to raise their childern in Southern California so they moved to southwest Washington and bought a dairy farm (he knew nothing about running a dairy - but he succeeded!).  After 5 years of that daily hard work of milking, he decided to be a hay farmer instead and bought a hay farm in eastern Washington.  This was a very busy life in the summer with more time off in the winter.  We had a water ski boat;  we snow skied; dad raced mini-Indy cars - he golfed, he hunted, they made lots of trips to Hawaii, he snowmobiled.  Dad loved being busy, he loved being social, he loved having a good time.  He always had a good joke to tell!

Trucking in California

Farming in eastern Washington

Race car driving

Fun on Dad's fishing boat!

After they retired, dad golfed ALOT and him and mom spent winters in Palm Springs golfing and playing tennis.  He loved to fish up in Canada.  They had a motor home and enjoyed traveling America and also did several "work" trips with CRWRC helping in disaster zones.  And then he was diagnosed with Parkinson's.

My mom has been amazing through all of this.  The past few months she has been so so good with dad.  But now she can't take care of him anymore.  He doesn't listen to her and he is too strong for her.  I spent two nights this past week at their house - to help when Dad wakes up in the night.  This has been exhausting.  Mom finally made the decision that Dad needs to live somewhere else - somewhere that is safe for him.  The other day he walked outside a couple of times, he tried to light the gas stove - it is just too dangerous for him to be at home. We now have a care giver in the house for 24 hours a day.  Mom and I are checking out care facilities to decide what place will be best for Dad.  Please pray for us as we navigate this new season of life for my parents.

Dad's 80th birthday last year

BUT - the sun is supposed to come out today.  There is still much joy in my life.  I have a new grandson, Cash Keith (Keith was Les' middle name).  What a gift to hold this new born baby in the middle of all this.  I have other joy in my life and that will be the next blog!