I went home over the weekend to see my Parents.  My Dad was placed in the Kentwood Nursing Home last Tuesday so I wanted to go home and see him and family.  It was a good weekend but also a little sad.
      Daddy was diagnosed with Parkinson's a year or two ago.  But, his physical decline has been very apparent this year.  I normally don't get home much.  In fact, at the most, twice a year and sometimes once a year.  This year, I've already been back 4 times and will go again at Christmas.  This is due to his physical decline. 
      It's kind of tough to see a man who, in  the prime of his life was a well built man , who is now very frail.  And yet, this is the toll  that disease takes on a man.  Daddy has lost a lot of weight, his left arm and hand shake continuously and he walks bent-over.  On  Sunday, when I went in to see him, he was coming down the hall with his walker.  He's never used a walker before. 
      I had some good time to visit with him. Sunday morning I sat with Daddy for about two hours.  We re-told stories from the days on the farm.  Mostly, the funny ones.  Then, my Uncle came in and sat  with us for about an hour.  "Unc", as I have always known him, is always good for a laugh.  Throughout their lives, Unc or "Dub" as Daddy called him, and Daddy were pretty close.  Hardly a day went by that they didn't see one another. 
      Sunday night, I went by to see Daddy and he was about ready to go to bed.  One of the nursing home workers said that many mornings Daddy wakes up at 2 a.m. and puts on his shoes to go  "to the barn."  She has to tell him he doesn't have any cows to milk.  I thought about how strong a habit that was for him.  For years, he woke up early to milk cows and now, with his memory fading he still thinks he needs to go to the barn. 
       Education is something Daddy always valued.  He graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University with a degree in Dairy Science and wanted to go to Vet school but at that time, if you wanted to attend Vet school you had to go to Texas A & M.  So, Daddy became a farmer.  At one time, to supplement his income from the farm, Daddy taught school as well.  In the last 10-15 years, he served on the local school board but resigned a couple of months ago due to his declining health.  He strongly encouraged  my sisters and me to go to college and he encouraged me to get my Masters and my Doctorate.  I'm not boasting when I say this but after I passed my oral exams for my Doctorate I  was driving south on I 55 in Jackson and called Daddy on my cell phone.  After I told him I had passed he replied, "Son, I'm proud of you."  I could have jumped through the roof the car when he said that!  I was so happy!
      I have found myself this year weeping over this.  I feel like my "cry" reservoir has to run out some times but so far it hasn't.  I can be in the gym working out and the right song comes on and I will cry.  I can be driving down the road and... same thing.. I cry.  This past weekend, I knelt down in front of Daddy and wept.  Then, He tried to console Me by saying this thing is just "part of life." He's right; it is but, I still cry. 
       I know I'm not the first to deal with the declining health of a parent but it has stunned me how much this disease has affected Daddy.  A friend of mind  encouraged me recently to spend as much time with  him as a I can and I intend to do that.