Faculty of faculties

Sam and Simmy spent a day with the old folks. Thankfully, 'Horn' didn't land on his head and his legs had become a little less rubbery.
Sun Ray was less than sunny and said, 'I'm not enjoying myself anymore.'
Simmy just met her eyes with a wordless understanding look.
Hard to imagine me at a loss for words, you say?
Well, wise guys, what would you say to that?
'Horn' said he wasn't the boss anymore and Simmy thought, 'Oh yah? Oh no! Who is then?'
It was like... overnight... the parents' faculties had done flown the coop.
The new medication packs... which seemed like the ideal solution to the 'Faculty of Baby Boomers'- a.k.a. the children... were not self- explanatory after all, not to the faculties of the 'Builder Generation' parents.
And, of course, the medical faculty had prescribed enough medication to fell a horse. But hey, it's keeping all the bodies' vital signs right where they need to be.
Darn shame you can't walk with all those meds, 'Horn.' Can't walk from your rocking chair to the bathroom? I can't imagine why! Your vital signs are perfect!
We can't work out the conflict of the faculties anymore than Kant could. Can we?

Making it work

...takes a little longer. Making it work takes a little time, darling.
"Waiting for people to volunteer is a tough haul. The folks need help. People only want to help when it's convenient. Are you listening, kitty?"
The cat yowled in protest and tried to cover his face and ears... 'I can't hear you, I can't hear you... shh! You're disturbing my sleep,..."

"How do you prepare food, get it all apportioned, try to get the meds straightened out, make sure someone is around to see that the once sturdy legs which are now really wobbly won't rubberize again... causing another landing on the noggin face plant... leaving a reminder that the grown kids kinda suck at this care-giving thing."
"Meow!"
"Blacker, bluer, the floor packs a pretty punch," Simmy tried for some dark humour.
"Bad nights, more wine, oh, that's how we made it through..."
"Meow?"
"Wrong lyrics? Okay, I changed a few words," Simmy mumbled.
"I wonder how I'm still on the case... Help me, help you, oh, we'll find us a place... maybe, the help there, won't let you land on your face...
making it work, takes a little longer, making it work, takes a little time,
darling..."
The cat moved his paws over his ears in sympathetic pose for less than sympathetic prose... "Let Doug and the Slugs write the lyrics?... you're probably right..."

It's a Dog's World

Sam and Simmy were the oddballs out at the 'doggie park.'
"Where's your dog?" One fella said as they scootched over on the path to let 'Fifi' by.
"I'm so glad your folks don't have a dog," Sam said. "We wouldn't want to add to the workload right now."
"No kidding! It's funny you say that, though. I was just thinking how a small kitten would give them something to watch or entertain them."
"Well, a cat is pretty low- maintenance. You can leave a cat with some food and water and pretty much leave it for almost a week and it'll be fine... a dog, now that's a different story... much more high maintenance."
As they traversed the 'doggie doo-doo' paths, they were quite happy to leave the dogs behind.

As they tried to get to the Hummer, there was an irate dog owner, somewhat annoyed by his not so loyal Boxer-ish dog that was trying to go home with someone else.

The wheaten terrier was adorable to look at but, woah, how long to do the hair?
The boxer-ish doggie has a face only his owner can love, yes? He should consider being a bit more loyal.

Little Big Town Manorisms

...and the creek don't rise

It was such a relief to wake up to sunshine on Friday morning. The phrase that kept running through Simmy's mind was,... 'Lord willing and the creek don't rise...' Sometimes idioms just help to get a perspective of necessity.
Simmy had struggled through parts of Thursday as she and Sam had driven out to the suburban city where the folks had re-settled, over 50 years after their return to Canada.

As they drove past an old manor, it was good to see new PVC windows in an old stately brick structure. The new technology married with the old architecture gave one a sense of hope as the fixing up of old existing structures often does.
As they arrived in the little big town, they stopped at the grocery store to buy some bread for the soup, stew, and chili that was a home-style meals on wheels offering from Sam and Simmy.
After picking a few options, they went to sit with Simmy's folks. This was no easy task as 'Horn' was thinking of his death and he wasn't going to get too cheerful this day.
'Sun Ray' was thinking of all the changes her life may go through and she was in a solemn mood as well.
As is usual, Thursday turns into Friday and the sun came out to lift the heavy mood of the day before and Simmy thought, 'Do not worry about tomorrow.'

'right as rain' David

On Monday, Deborah had called Simmy to say, "Hey, I've got some good news. David, who used to live on Jonathan, is really doing well. His Mom just called and said he'll just need some physio but then he'll be 'right as rain.'"
"Oh, that's just amazing. His heart was torn but it's mended well, is that what I'm hearing?"
"Yes," Deborah was sounding chipper.
"Another chance for this young man to dream and sing and embrace life. Thanks for the good news."
Simmy's cellphone vibrated.
Her Dad must have perked right up because the hospital was kicking him out. Sun Ray would most definitely like that.

Spicy Dad's Cookies

Simmy was baking up a storm trying to keep her hands busy. Since Friday, when her Dad had been dashed to the hospital... she had been fielding more text messages than ever.
Interesting man, this father of hers... he told one child he was ready to leave his earthly confines. He became emotional when talking about his demise... that, at least, seemed normal to Simmy.
Sometimes, it seemed that her parents had lived their lives so well that they could even muster up all the right emotions for each situation and each person that visited Cornelius in the hospital.
Being oldest children, they felt a certain responsibility for everyone and everything... even dying well.
Simmy just kept baking those spicy Dad's cookies... 'kind of apt for today,' she mused with a bit of dark humour and salty tears.
"Ya gotta love that builder generation pragmatism."

Drama in Castle

Things were heating up with 'Parrot Stew' Mama and this time there was no latitude for compromise. 
http://romancedesigner.blogspot.com/2010/12/latitude-for-compromise.html
She was starting to to get very upset with the doctors who were treating her husband. Friday night she had looked at their personal G.P. with big worshipful moony eyes and Sam and Simmy had been very happy with the evidence of love between doctor and patients... it's so adorable when the age difference is like that of parent to child. Their doctor was the age of their children and he seemed so protective over 'Parrot Stew' Mama.
But... Sun Ray or Shining Light was squinting her eyes and looking stormy and obstinate yesterday. She was getting very hard to handle and whatever the doctor on rounds yesterday had said had earned him the not so complimentary moniker... dummy.
Simmy was not on duty Monday night so she had decided to enjoy the televised romance between Castle and Beckett.
The family room already had another real time romance couple sitting cuddled together like a couple of bear cubs. They were both enjoying a chunk of rice krispie cake that Simmy had tossed together the day before. Quickly, Simmy grabbed her camera and captured a picture of the pair with their fingers in sticky piano pose.
'Castle' was entertaining and it was a one hour distraction from the real life romantic drama that Simmy's parents were currently wrapped up in.
'Love is all there is... when the spark of youth someday surrenders... the years may come and go but one thing I know, love is all there is... when I'm with you.'
That was the theme song for Simmy's folks.