Exploits of “Coming home to stay at 93”

I had not looked forward to the return of my father with much excitement and I couldn’t image how this interruption of my little perfect world would be affected. Dad seemed to have evolved into a more sensitive and friendly character in more recent months in drastic comparison to what had been a strained relationship, when he was capable of saying some cruel and unkind comments to many of his loved family members.

He would be sensitive to my work schedule as I typed away in the adjacent living room which I had transformed into a comfortable home office supplying technical Internet phone support to subscribers of a local ISP. Without commitments to go into the office for a few days I knew it would be inevitable that I would need to leave Dad home alone as I had visions of the 1990 comedy film of Macaula Culkin who was mistakenly left HOME ALONG while his family leaves on vacation to Paris, France. I have learned not to allow 93 years of pure, adventurous, farmboy experiences to bamboozle me into thinking he was harmless in his latter years.

I connected my webcam positioning it so that I would have a view of Dad at the table as he whiled away the days at the kitchen table, spending his seemingly hurried time pulling little shoe boxes of gadgets one by one from his room so he could finger through them as if taking inventory for one last time while listening to his old polka cassette tapes.

The camstream was associated with a chat room with a picture of Dad listed with other live broadcast streams making it possible for surfers to choose the most interesting stream to drop by in order to catch the most desired action.

I would monitor the chat site during the day and often well into the night answering questions to various visitors from around the country to include many international visitors, many wanting to share experiences about their aging parents and how they dealt with much the same issues.

The stream was described with the following caption with a picture of Dad:

Coming Home to Stay at 93
Well, my dad, Frank, escaped the nursing home at High Acres and he ainta goin back no mo. With a promise to return the following day and a $50 cab ride into the country, the old boy is in his glory.

New developments have recently interrupted my tech blog with personal family issues dealing with the following steam which I have setup for monitoring purposes for my father. I have ceased streaming following my dad’s return to the nursing home on January 15, but I will broadcast when he returns to his country home for a visit.

It has been difficult as a family to balance his wishes in what may be his final months here on earth among us and with what is best for his health. I would like to thank all those who have shown their sincere interest in my dad and to his well being, and I wish to assure you that we as a family are very concerned about his peace of mind at this stage of his life.

He is such a wonderful example of a sharp mind and does small exercising to maintain his mobility. He still has concerns about his weight and likes to look his best for friends and family.

I wish to capture some footage from the nursing home and will try to keep you updated with interviews to answer questions you may have by leaving comments.

Dad was becoming somewhat of a celebrity as regular visitors would drop in to check on Dad who was slightly oblivious to the Internet stream not knowing when the stream was live. He had many questions about “dat web thing” as I attempted to describe to my 93 year old father that the World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. He drew nearly 5,000 hits on that site during the ten days of streaming, many just popping in and out all hours of the day and night to see if there was any activity with, "Coming Home to Stay at 93".

Well, Dad returned to the nursing home as we were faced with temperatures dropping to below 0 C and high winds in the near forecast. I was able to capture some choice footage in an interview conducted by his grandchildren, Tracy and Lindsey.

He had a couple of minor heart issues while at home and was probably beginning to realize his need for accessible health care.

He requested assistance getting him ready for the 35 mile trip back to the home and asked me to wrap a scarf around his head as he comically looked like an aged bent over Amish women getting ready to step up into an awaiting horse buggy.

My brother, Izzy, came to assist him to his awaiting truck that would return him to his former residence. As he was leaving, he slowly turned to me before he made his way through the front door of his beloved home with a pleasant, "Larry, thank you for everything you did for me", and I immediately had that sinking feeling that he knew he would probably not be retuning to his country home on the Dakota prairie that he loved so well.