Life occasionally repeats itself. This happened recently when my daughter and her husband had to go to Europe. They asked me to be responsible for their three kids, aged fourteen, eleven and eight.
As part of my responsibilities, I showed up at the eight-year-old’s school office to inform them she had to leave school early that day for a dentist appointment. I wore a Giants cap to corral my unruly shoulder-length white hair and spoke clearly, trying to convey a sense that dementia has in my case not yet set in.
Shortly, Daisy appeared and off we went for the trip a few miles north to the dentist’s office.
I’d left plenty of time, too much actually, and there was no traffic, so we arrived half an hour early. She sat patiently next to me in the waiting room for 50 minutes, which could not have been easy for her. Finally, a dental assistant called her name and she disappeared into the back.
I had told her that if she wanted me to go back to the examination room with her I would do so. Our signal if she wanted that was a thumb’s up, but the signal never came so I sat still while she got her X-rays and an exam.
One problem with being a grandfather is I’m never entirely sure I am hearing the kids properly. Daisy speaks softly, and much of the time I just nod in response. It gets tiring to always be saying “What was that?”
Plus it’s a cliche to do that and I hate being a cliche.
Meanwhile, the dental office filled up with patients and their partners. One elderly lady was upset and seemed to be overcome from the heat. She had to be attended to. An office assistant took her blood pressure, while her adult daughter waved a fan in her face. “Mommy are you all right?” she asked.
Eventually the elderly woman settled down and seemed recovered. I picked up her jacket and cane, which had fallen, and handed them to the daughter.
A silver-haired man about my age entered and stood in line to report in for his appointment. He made eye contact with me and eventually sat down next to me. “Been waiting long?” he asked me.
I said yes but asked when his appointment was scheduled for and reassured him his wait would not doubt be less than ours had been.
Other such events unfolded but finally my granddaughter re-appeared with a masked dentist who explained she should have a sealant applied to one molar as a preventative measure. So I made a future appointment for her to return and we headed out of the office for the drive home. The dentist told her not to eat or drink anything for 30 minutes after her appointment.
As we pulled into the driveway, she piped up: “Has it been 30 minutes yet, Grandpa?”
I nodded. It had been about ten minutes. But it also occurred to me that the things that can vex a parent don’t really bother a grandparent.
Later on, I cooked dinner for the kids while they did their homework. It was pork chops, seasoned and spiced in mushroom cream sauce over quinoa with edamame.
Daisy is my taster on such occasions. Our signal if she likes the way the sauce tastes is to give me a thumbs-up.
She smiled as she flashed it.
So since I am rambling here it’s back to how life repeats itself. If I could turn back the clock, say, 14 years, I remember a specific day when I took my youngest daughter to the dentist after school, then cooked dinner for three youngest kids (aged 14, 12, and 10 at the time) while they did their homework.
I think it was ‘grilled steak strips with mashed potatoes’ that night. My daughter Julia was my taster.
Our signal if she approved of it was a thumb’s up. She smiled as she flashed it.
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LYRICS:
One of These Days
Well, I won't have to chop no wood
I can be bad or I can be good
I can be any way that I feel
One of these days
Might be a woman that's dressed in black
Be a hobo by the railroad track
I'll be gone like the wayward wind
One of these days
One of these days, it will soon be all over, cut and dry
And I won't have this urge to go all bottled up inside
One of these days, I'll look back, and I'll say I left in time
'Cause somewhere for me I know there's peace of mind
I might someday walk across this land
Carrying the Lord's book in my hand
Goin' 'cross the country, singin' loud as I can
One of these days
But I won't have trouble on my back
Cuttin' like the devil with a choppin' axe
Got to shake it off of my back
One of these days
One of these days, it will soon be all over, cut and dry
And I won't have this urge to go all bottled up inside
One of these days, I'll look back, and I'll say I left in time
'Cause somewhere for me I know there's peace of mind
There's gonna be peace of mind for me, one of these days
Songwriter: E. Montgomery
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