Papa Wally, my husband\u2019s father, is in his late 80\u2019s. He\u2019s suffered\u00a0falling accidents, his balance is poor and his legs give out sometimes. One fall\u00a0left his arm purple and\u00a0stiff and ultimately unusable. Each time we see Papa Wally, he is more bent at the waist, seemingly frail as a bird, but Wally is a fighter, tenacious, crabby and determined when he wants to be\u2014which seems to be at the most unlikely moments.<\/p>\n
Now in the long weeks after a terrible fall backwards, during which he hit his head and fractured vertebrae and his pelvis and his elbow…days and weeks of excruciating rehab, Papa Wally hunkers down, focuses in. He wants to go home–not to Jesus in heaven–to Betty Lou on Broadstone Road.<\/p>\n
James, his son who lives far away in Montana, calls Wally\u00a0every day. The only days they don\u2019t talk is when James\u2019 work schedule doesn\u2019t match up with Papa\u2019s PT, shower, dinner and early bedtime and the two-hour time difference, which usually means a window between 4:00 to 5:00 pm MST. Scheduling is a hassle every day.<\/p>\n
Calling is hard, heart breaking: what with the irritating schedule and difficulty communicating, with\u00a0the sorrow of\u00a0not being next to Wally in person,\u00a0and\u00a0because those 20 minutes feel futile most days. You see, Papa can\u2019t remember. The drugs fog his brain. He\u2019s too tired to hold a conversation on most days.<\/p>\n
Still, my husband called his dad every single day during the endless days, nights, and weeks that Papa Wally was in rehab.<\/p>\n
Calling Dad<\/strong><\/p>\n He will not be alone; I will make sure of it.<\/p>\n As if I can.<\/p>\n I pray it. I will it.<\/p>\n I will do my damnedest to grant Dignity. Grace. Stability. Family.<\/p>\n I am, in part, the answer to my own prayer, I guess. If only with a 15 minute call today, and again tomorrow, and the next.<\/p>\n Dad’s voice is muffled and confused. A child’s voice.<\/p>\n A turkey sandwich or meatloaf today? He can\u2019t remember. The details mix up. Did you\u00a0sit\u00a0outside? He can’t remember.<\/p>\n One thing only Dad\u00a0never forgets:<\/p>\n \u201cI love you,\u201d he\u00a0says, his voice\u00a0strong now<\/p>\n at the end of the\u00a0call, each and every day.<\/p>\n The gift is mine.<\/p>\n Dad gives me dignity, grace, stability, family.<\/p>\n He knows he is\u00a0the answer to an adopted\u00a0son’s\u00a0prayer.<\/p>\n I am loved.<\/p>\n August 2, 2015 by Donna for James<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Papa Wally, my husband\u2019s father, is in his late 80\u2019s. He\u2019s suffered\u00a0falling accidents, his balance is poor and his legs give out sometimes. One fall\u00a0left his arm purple and\u00a0stiff and ultimately unusable. Each time we see Papa Wally, he is more bent at the waist, seemingly frail as a bird, but Wally is a fighter, tenacious, crabby and determined when he wants to be\u2014which seems to be at the most unlikely moments. Now in the long weeks after a terrible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,30,31],"tags":[59,66,11],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-life-transitions","category-snap-shots-of-the-daily","tag-embrace","tag-mr-wallace","tag-son"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":272,"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions\/272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}