Thoughts of old age

[Smiley]

When my Dad was in his 80`s I used to drive him around the countryside so he could tell me what never used to be there .My mother spent the last couple years of her life on earth in a constant care facility.After she died my Dad entered the same one but not a closed ward. He was free to come and go as he pleased.

[Edwin]

It is nice when the patients have it enough together so that they come and go as they like. It is sad any time freedom has to be taken away from anyone for any reason. That is pretty funny about your Dad, Smiley, telling you what didn't used to be there! When we drive to the South off this hill I see deterioration, and I know it is part of life, but it bothers me. We go past a place where my cousin used to live, and the roof is right flat on the ground with boards scattered everywhere. Just 200 feet from there is the School House where my older brother and sister used to attend. The roof of that building is right flat on the ground, but it is still more together than my cousin's house. We used to have picnics there, everyone living on the Reservation, in the 1960, and we ate inside that building. As we go further South we come to my Grandfather's old place, Mom's Dad. My grandparents lived there. Then my Aunt and Uncle lived there. Then my brother and sister-in-law lived there and I lived with them part of the time, and worked for my older brother. The house and barn both burned to the ground, and there is a cattle correl where those buildings used to be. The car garage where my uncle used to park his car is still there. Up on the hill is a large building that my parents used to use for a chicken house. They had lots of chickens. My Uncle moved it to that place, poured concrete walls, and then sit that building up higher on that concrete, making a tall building that they could drive tractors and trucks inside to work on them. My Dad and all of us worked in that shop years ago. Now the metal roofing is blowing off, and the slide sliding door is broken and sagging, and no one lives there, so no one cares, which is sad. But Carol tells me, cheer up, this is life, and things die and fall apart and deteriorate, so I guess I will enjoy the memories that I have and not feel badly because of the deterioration. You can't tell I am sentimental, can you?