Wrinkled Thoughts

As many of you know, I go and visit my 98-year-old grandfather once a week and take him to lunch. His favorite place is the Pardise Cafe and Bakery – specifically, the Fire Roasted Tomato soup.

I usually call him around 10:30am on Wednesday mornings to see if he is home and ready to go to lunch. I'm usually at his house 30 minutes later so we can beat the crowd. Last Wednesday I called him on my cell phone in the car around 10:40am and he answered "all ready to go!". I must have flown on the freeway because I was walking through his door 10 minutes later.

I usually let myself in and yell from the door something like "Yyyello!"… Usually, he walks around the corner ready to put his coat on. This time I didn't hear anything from him, so I continued on into his living room to find him SOUND ASLEEP in his special rocking chair. Here's the picture to prove it. Actually, I took several pictures with my cell phone… this is just the best one. During my "photo session" the clock on the wall – not 12 feet from his head struck eleven. Any one who has tried to sleep in his house knows this clock well. It wakes the dead… but not grandpa. He slept right through it.

At this point I checked to make sure he was still alive… and he was, breathing deep and sleeping like a baby. I thought about what to do next. I decided to go back to the kitchen door and pretend like I just arrived – only this time I was going to be LOUDER as I entered. I slammed the door and yelled out "YYYYELLLOW!" … and walked back into the living room. ZZZ  ZZZZ ZZZZ….

After a little chuckle I stood there and called out, "You awake!"… "Yup", he says, like he's been sitting there waiting for me the whole time. Then he jumped up as usual and off we went… and he was none the wiser.

That reminds me… I added another "special" Hollyism to my ongoing blog about the many funny things he says. Go and check it out here.