Coming Home to Stay at 92

Introduction: I wish to share some memories of an extraordinary man who left a huge impact on the family he left behind to include 9 children, 28 grandchildren, and 23 great-grandchildren. His sharp recollection of events, humorous insight, and charm was a thrill to all who knew him personally

Frank Mastel's last purchased farm occurred in 1944, where he build a country home that became the center of family activities and excitement for all ages in the years to follow.

The hard toll of family chores where he and Maggie, his wife, milked dairy cows by hand and tilled the soil manually with work horses could never compare to his love for music when after a hard day's work, he would practice his soprano sax, and banjo. He also enjoyed his favorite music tracks to include Lawrence Welk and those of his Brother Bill's accordion polka band.

The point is that I am dealing with issues with my mom, 89 and dad, 92 currently residing in a nursing home but who still own the country home I have made into a comfortable remote home office following relocation back to the Dakota plains a couple of years ago. Several weeks ago on a leisurely Saturday morning my cell phone rang with a number I did not recognize.

“Hello, this is Amanda from the nursing home and I am calling to inform you that your dad has called a cab and will be retuning to the farm for a couple of days. Are you aware that he is coming?”

Silence…......A 35 mile trip by cab does not seem like a reasonable decision with family members in the area that may have been unwillingly persuaded to make a trip to the farm.

“No I didn’t” I replied. This was a surprise to me since Dad has a weak heart condition and has macular degeneration which classifies him as legally blind. Mother had broken her leg 2 years ago and requires 24 1/2 hour nursing care but also continues to insist that she too will be returning home to the farm some day.

“Well, your brother, Izzy, (who is the estate administrator) was made aware of this, but he is out of town this weekend.”

“OK”, I reluctantly replied, “You probably would have little success in changing his mind at this point.”

I slowly, thoughtfully, closed by cell phone and immediately made plans to prepare his room for his arrival since his room has become a convenient storage room.

The point is that the majority of my family of nine “agreeable souls” has insisted that things remain as they were when Mom and Dad left 2 years ago. I have since gone through rooms removing old clothing, boxes of books and magazines, cleared the walls of cluttered 50s nick knacks and furthermore, under cover of darkness, moved many precious valuables to the farmyard community burn pile. My mom, bless her dear soul, raised in the depression years, was truthfully, a nick knack maniac.