Dateline Dayton – The best of plans fall apart more often now than when we were raising our five children. Possibility it is due to our age, advancing years. I hope not.

I had a half-day to take off work last week. So I decided, at the last minute, to take it Wednesday afternoon. I had planned it for Friday afternoon. Pauline didn’t have anything on the calendar and I though it would be nice for me to take her to lunch and help her get thing ready for Thanksgiving.

I arrived home at 12:30 to an empty house. I tried calling Pauline on her cell phone. No answer. I decided to go ahead and get the table ready. I would dig the extra chairs out of the garage, no small task since all of son Chris’s stuff is stored there.

Finally Pauline called. She was on the way to grocery store and then she would be home. This may have happened to you. She saw that I had called, but she didn’t know why she had not received the call or heard it. She had gone for coffee with her friend, Elaine. It turned into lunch and ended up taking four hours.

Since I had eaten as well and we needed to run a couple errands, I told Pauline we would leave a little before 5, make the stops and then have supper. We went to Waynesville, to a little restaurant where Pauline had cornbread and beans while I ate a chicken hot shot.

When we arrived home there was a message from a priest who lives in the retirement community with Pauline’s brother, Joe.

He said Joe had fallen. The priest was able to get him into bed, and that was all. Pauline immediately called her brother. But he was not speaking coherently, so we hurried over to West Milton where he was.

As we were leaving, the priest, who is the administrator of the retirement community, called to say he was on his way to Joe’s. If necessary, he would call the emergency squad.

We were just outside Vandalia, 15 minutes away, when the priest called back. Emergency medics had been summoned. At that time, she made the decision that we would cancel Thanksgiving dinner with our daughter Lisa and our son Jon.

It Was Getting Worse

No sooner did Pauline hang up than our son Chris called. He had a message on his phone from Uncle Joe, from 20 minutes earlier, saying he needed help. Not sure why Joe didn’t call one of our cell phones.

We ended up spending the night at the hospital. By 5 a.m. we decided to go home since it appeared nothing was going to happen. As soon as we arrived home, the hospital telephoned to say Joe was being released. Back to the hospital we went, only to learn that the doctor wanted the results from another test, before authorizing his release.

About an hour later, he was released and now we were on our way back to West Milton to get items Joe would need, as he would be staying with us, until he’s better or other arrangements are made.

When Chris arrived home on Thursday from his overnight in Cincinnati, he fixed our Thanksgiving dinner. Everything was delicious. It is great to have Chris around, and he is a big help with Pauline’s brother. On Friday, Jon came over with his girls. However, his wife of one week was not with him. I guess we still are not socially acceptable. They stayed for supper. I will bet you can guess what we ate…

To Be Eligible

Update – I have written many times that having children should require a license. I have acquired a supporter. Yesterday, while caring for Joe, I saw part of Dr. Phil’s television program. He also believes that you should have a license – after completing an education course – prior to taking your bundle of joy home from the hospital. See. Maybe my idea is not that far out.

Mr. Hennessey may be contacted at pmhenn@sbcglobal.net