Where did my box of crayons go?
I quit my day job, as some of you may remember from my previous posts. It's really pretty exciting, ok.... maybe a little bit scarey!
I have been living with my elderly father for the past 2 years and it has been rewarding and it has been trying.
I promised my Mom on her death bed that I would move home to make sure Dad was alright. To make sure Dad ate. To make sure Dad didn't loose or misplace everything in this house.
My Dad is 89 years old. He looks about 70. He has never been one to sit down and rest unless he was so tired his body wouldn't let him do anything else. None of this has changed. He can still fix his lunch. Still fixes his cereal in the morning. He became a bit OCD about his laundry in the military and my abilities in the laundry room just do not suit him, so he does his own laundry. I'm as sorry as I can be, but I can not iron creases in all his cotton shirts and darts in his cotton pants. I don't know this for a fact, but I believe there is reason to believe Mom ironed his blue jeans. Ah, he also still calls them dungaries.
Dad and I have always butted heads. Not severely, and never in a manner that would last for too terribly long, but we don't do things the same. Dads views are that he wants to know how things work, what makes them work, why do we want them to work. My view, it works so use it.
When I started going through the pantry and cabinets, the frig and the freezer there was a recurring problem. There were 6 boxes of cereal, 4 of which I knew Dad did not like. There were 3 containers of Morton salt, 4 bags of rice, 8 or 9 cans of tomato soup. And enough frozen food with enough preservatives to kill a small army. I spent at least 9 months trying to get rid of that stuff in a fashion that would not cause any more undue health problems.
Ha! This was suppose to be a post about my box of crayons missing and it's just about Dad. Well, maybe it is about me loosing my box of crayons.
No one thought I would work when I moved back home. Well, Dad didn't think that I would work after I got home. But, I did. While I was still living in Nashville I worked in the public school system after leaving the insurance industry in 2007, maybe 2008. It doesn't matter, I left the insurance industry after 25 years. After I returned home to be with Dad I decided to stay in education, but after 2 years, it just didn't work out.
I am too old to deal with 5,6,and 7 year old children and come home and take care of Dad. Can't do it! I have just got to start building some more stamina! I just have too! Don't say a word, I know I told you that he could do for himself, but please try to remember that I also told you he has a bad habit of loosing everything. Everything! And, he doesn't know how to fry chicken.
Dad can not throw a magazine or periodical or newsletter away. The coffee table is full of magazines from the 90's. Maybe even the 80's. We moved all his old paperwork from paper boxes to plastic boxes and there were things in those boxes back to the 70's. The only reason we need these are because Dad can't stand to part with them. I found some more magazines and periodicals stacked beside his bed. I won the argument about the plastic containers being safer than paper, but there is no need in even trying to get rid of all those magazines. None, whatsoever!
So, here I am on the starting line of a new adventure. Dad is scared out of his mind. He doesn't really want me to do this, but he tries not to say anything. I'm afraid! I'm excited! I'm nervous! and now after being away from my own website for a year, or two.... I can't find it!
I didn't mean to let it disappear, but I did! Now, I will have to start all over! From scratch. But, my daughter wants to help me. I hope she has time. I'm hoping that if she points me in the right direction, I can take it from there. She wanted me to change it anyway, so I'm sure she is glad. I hope I am glad, but it will be awhile before I know for sure.
My etsy shoppe is still there.... www.etsy.com/allbeckyscreations
My facebook page is still there..... www.facebook.com/allbeckyscreations.
And, I'm sitting here writing of my faux pauxs in the life of rediscovery while my Dad just left to go out and spend the day and early evening with friends. While I sit here thinking of all the things I need to do to get this ball rolling.
I really think that both of us are helping both of us!
There will come a time, I hope in the distant future that I will "Need" to be here all the time. Until then, I will once again get this new online store set up and I will enjoy Dad!
Oh yeah, did I tell you that I brought my dog back home with me and now he thinks Dad is his master.
It's really pretty sweet!
