Thanksgiving Day and Dad was on one!!  It started out well.  He was raking all of the leaves in Aunt Chrissy’s backyard.  It’s what he loves to do.  I was thinking well, what happens when he rakes all of the leaves, what can we have him do next?  When he is at home my mom can keep him busy but when he is not at home, it can be a little challenging.  You gotta keep him busy or he will be following my mom like a lost puppy.  So, I thought, hmmm, when he is not looking, maybe I can dump out all the leaves and he will think he has more leaves to rake.  Just saying lol lol lol.  Anyway, Dad also has a thing about women telling him what to do.  For example, my mom was asking him to go with her to drive the car around to see if they could hear the noise that I heard when I drove it.  He said, well just take it to the shop.  My mom told him we needed to check it first to see if it was a problem.

Dad: I know if it’s a problem or not!!

Me: Huh??? Oh lort!

Dad: (talking to us) You know, I’m a man and you all are women.  I know these things.  If my wife needs a car, I give her the money to get it!  I’m a man, y’all women.  I’m a good man!!

Me: Where the hell did that come from????  I’m so confused.

Dad: Women need to stay in their place.  Blah blah blah blah blah

He went on and on and on with all this foolishness.  He was on a roll.  His voice was getting a little loud and his demeanor had changed to a “I said what I said and that’s it!!”

Dad:  I thought we were going somewhere?!?!

Mom: We are just be patient.

Dad:  Forget then, I’ll stay home!

Mom: Richard can you go outside and water the plants?

Dad:  Imma go out there and stay.

Mom: OK, get some sunshine

Me:  Jesus take the wheel!!

Mom:  Oh shoot, I forgot the Melatonin at home, we gotta find a CVS.

While we were out, we found a CVS and Melatonin to the rescue!!  OOOOWEEEE!!!

Oooweee, Dementia is a trip!!  So, I told y’all that my dad thought we were going swimming.  Hahaha I told him we are going to Fresno for Thanksgiving. So, for 45 minutes down I-5 he kept talking about swimming and we kept saying no, we are going to Fresno.  Then he was quiet and dozing off but not for long because the sun was beginning to go down which means Sundown time.

Well, Dad had an Energy surge and Increased confusion.  If you have seen the movie Gremlins then you know that you cannot feed them sweets because after dark, they go cray cray!! It’s the same way with Dad.  He had a Granola Bar and that had more sugar than it should and that got him going.  No sweets for Papa Richie or you yourself will need some valium (lol lol lol just kidding or am I??) So every little gas station or shopping mall that we passed on the freeway Dad would say, “Oh, I remember that place.  My Dad used to take us there.  Wow, it hasn’t changed.” Mind you, he was in Arkansas and Oklahoma when he was younger. 

Dad: We in Oklahoma huh?

Me: No, Dad we are in Modesto. 

Dad: Whaaat, in Modesto??

Me: Yeap

(10 mins later) Dad: Oh, I remember that place.  Dad took us to that place.  We had a fun time.

Me: Oh yeah?

Dad: Yeah.  We in Oklahoma, right? (We just passed a sign that said Kansas Street) Oh wait, we’re in Kansas. (smiling as he said that)

Me: No Dad, we are in Merced.

Dad: We are?

Me: Yeap.

Dad: Yeah, my dad is dead, my mom is dead, Tutti(brother) is dead, Jr is dead (another brother), Josephine is dead, they shot her (his sister but not shot the way he is thinking), Almeda is dead (other sister)

Me: Dad, Almeda is still alive.  You just talked to her earlier. (me giggling)

Dad: Oh yeah.  Are we in Oklahoma yet?

Me: no (I gave up saying where we were going)

When he has to go to the bathroom, he will not say that he has to go.  Instead, he will tell a story about some guys he was hanging with. They were all talking and all of a sudden one of the guys would stand by the side of the street and stand there for a good minute and then he realized they had some kind of device that allowed them to pee without unzipping.  It was like a long tube that was on the inside of their pants and made it easy for them.  He said that he needed to get one of those.  Lol lol lol He would repeat over and over again.  Mom said this is a sign that he must go to the bathroom.

We are back on the road from the stop and Dad is back to seeing all of the places that his dad took him too. Lol lol

(This was repeated at least 10 times) Dad: Yeah, my dad is dead, my mom is dead, Tutti(brother) is dead, Jr is dead (another brother), Josephine is dead, they shot her (his sister but not shot the way he is thinking), Almeda is dead (other sister)

YaY, we are in Fresno.  But Dad thinks we are in Oklahoma and asked my mom if she has the key to the house and if she knows where the house is.  Hehehehe

Dad: Good Ole Okahoma!!

Me: trying to hold my giggles in.