Posted by dangibson on Sunday, December 27, 2009
My dad turned 87 on December 4, 2009. I'm an only child, so it's great to have him with us.
He's in good health, but peripheral neuropathy in both lower legs impairs his mobility. I visit him in North Carolina 3-4 times a year. We talk about all the usual things -- frequently more than once.
Several years ago, he told me a story I now use in some of my programs. It's more about my mother than about him, but it explains alot about both of them.
In 1994 they visited us in Dallas, TX, to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. They treated us -- wife, three daughters and our existing grand kids -- to a fancy dinner, then headed south to Galveston.
At Galveston, they visited the Lone Star Aviation Museum -- which my mother had no interest in whatsoever. But my dad began flying at age 17 and couldn't pass it up.
He had joined the Navy at the outbreak of WW II. A twist of fate, and Navy requirements, canceled his assignment to a destroyer escort. As a result, he wound up spending all of WW II in Naval aviation electronics -- not as a pilot, but as an electronics test technician, eventually doing test flights in almost every tyoe of multi-seat aircraft the Navy had. He spent the entire war in the U.S, never set foot on a ship, and made Chief Petty Officer on December 1, 1944, three days before his 22 birthday. (My original post said he made CPO at age 23. He has corrected my error.) So, flying and airplanes were in his blood, but not in my mother's.
At the museum, by mother spent two hours at the security desk talking to the guard while my dad walked around kicking tires and explaining the aircraft to the docents.
When he finally wandered back to the security desk, the guard saw him coming and said to my mother in a voice he was sure my dad would hear, "Lady, you really are a patient wife, sitting here all this time while your husband goes around looking at airplanes."
"Oh, that's okay," she said. "I'm building up shopping time."
She got it, too. That's why they were married for 55 years.
2 comments on “Putting Things in Proper Perspective”
M-D Says:
Sunday, December 27, 2009 @7:02:37 AM
Dan,
A friend had peripheral neuropathy in her feet, owing to chemo-therapy. Nothing the doctor gave her worked, and they told her she'd just have to live with it -- and for the rest of her life, though to a lesser extent. She got on line, and found that l-glutamine, an amino acid, was reported to work very well for the condition. She got some, took the recommended amount, and it made an immediate improvement, which continued to the point of having none. Today, she has none what-so-ever, and no longer takes the l-glutamine.
When she told her doctor about it, the doctor said, "Oh, I'm glad you found out about that. I've heard it works." Well, duh!
I'm sure you can find lots of information on line for this remedy, the recommended amount, etc. Perhaps it might work for your dad. :o)
bj Says:
Sunday, December 27, 2009 @9:42:04 AM
Great story, Dan! I hope the l-glutamine works. A lot of these more natural remedies work very well.
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