The tenth good thing about my dad #9

(Keith opening funny talking monkey dad gave him as a gift)

The ninth good thing about my dad was that he made me laugh. He had a quick witted humor that was so sneaky you could miss it if you weren't careful. It was an unusual day when he didn't have me chuckling about something. He liked to tell jokes and told them well. I always enjoyed when he thought the joke was so funny that he would start chuckling before he got the punchline out. Although he was a good joke teller the funniest things he said were the little puns and plays on words that he would do off the cuff. Although not nearly as talented at this as my dad I also like to play with words. It was a red letter day when I could say something unexpected enough to make him chuckle.




Journal Entry 1/15/08
I called Wendy in the morning when I woke and found Dad's breathing was getting more labored. Hospice nurse Sue had planned to come but was dealing with another crisis. When I realized we didn't have enough Morphine to make it through the night I called Sue after hours and she made a special trip to bring the prescription. The best part of the day was early afternoon when Arlene came to visit. When she arrived we told dad she was here. He was doing very little interacting both with words and his eyes at that point. He fell asleep with her holding his hand, then woke himself up with a snore. His eyes popped open-focused on Arlene and He said "Surprise!" How sweet. He was delighted to open his eyes and find her there.