Yesterday turned out to be such a blessing. Shame on me for not wanting to do it. Here's the story. My dad lost his bottom dentures a couple of months ago and needed to go to Affordable Dentures in Franklin to get a new set made. His dentures were 13years old so it was time for some new ones even if he hadn't lost the bottoms. He thinks they fell off the sink and got flushed down the toilet.
Three years ago I had taken him there for an adjustment. It is an all day process. This time I knew the schedule. Arrive before 9:00 and sign in. Wait your turn to see the dentist. Wait some more. Get a fitting with a wax mold. Wait some more. Then get your new set of dentures around 4:30.
My sister Vonda needs a set of bottom dentures too. It made perfect sense to me for her to take dad since they both needed them. I also whined thinking she doesn't work and has more time. I'm five days away from our community vacation Bible school. My house needs cleaning and I don't feel good. Whine, whine, whine. Have you ever read "The Tyranny of the Urgent." I needed to suck it up and make time for what is important, my dad. All those other things will still be going on long after dad is gone.
Sooo, I got up at my usual time 6:30. Ate my usual oatmeal with blueberries and walnuts. Read the Bible, watched birds and drank coffee as usual. Then at 7:30 I sprinted. Took a quick shower, threw on clothes and headed to dad's house. He was ready and we took off for Franklin. As we drove the clouds got darker and darker. The rain began to fall. It looked like a severe thunderstorm or a tornado was about to happen. I actually enjoyed this. Thunderstorms are great!
We arrived at 8:50. Wow, 10 minutes to spare or we would have missed the 9:00 dead line for checking in. By the time I got the umbrella out dad had already made to the door using his cane. He walks pretty fast in the rain. Today, I had decided to not read magazines to pass the time but to just talk to dad and more important listen to him. So that's what we did. We also talked to several people sitting near us. One man told us the best restaurant in Franklin was Aunt Judy's. I promptly looked up the address in a phone book and wrote it down. At lunch I programmed the address into my GPS and found it with no problem. Dad said we have crazy ways of driving nowadays as I listened to the GPS tell me when to turn right or left.
Another man we talked too about gardening told us the Whiteland Orchard had the best tomato plants and recommended a Mr. Stripey. That was intriguing. When I planted my garden this year, I chose one of every kind of tomato....jet star, beef eater, Big Boy, rutger, grape, cherry, and a golden jubilee which is yellow. I couldn't find an orange one. Mr. Stripey was half orange and half red. That would be close enough. So I got directions and on the way home from Franklin we detoured to the orchard. They were out of Mr. Stripeys! :( But guess what they did have! Cucumber plants. All the local places do not have cucumber plants. Believe me I've looked. So I bought 16 cucumber plants to replace the ones the groundhog ate two weeks ago. When we arrived back at dad's I promptly planted them. I have place a double fence around the garden to prevent animals from snacking in the garden.
This concludes my special memory making dad with dad. I am so glad that I took the time for what was important and didn't get bogged down with the urgent daily things that always want my attention. I didn't take a picture of his new smile with pearly white dentures so I am going to attach another pictured of my dad.
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