Watching the game

Thursday, March 19, 2009


Bob can’t work the TV remote anymore. He is constantly changing the channel. He used to come out and ask us to find the ball game for him, but he doesn’t do that anymore. Now, he just keeps hitting different buttons until finally he stops and waits for someone to come to his room.

A few nights ago I entered his room to find him watching a drama. A lady was in a hospital bed hooked up to all kinds of tubes and she was clearly dying. A man was at her side and they were sharing her last moments together. I asked Bob, “What are you watching?”

“The ball game,” he relied.
“Really!” I answered, as I grabbed the remote to change the channel. “What is the score and what is going on?” I asked.
“Well, you see, that lady that you saw she had to guess the score of the game, and if she gets it right she wins all kinds of money.” He said.
“How cool is that?” I replied.
“Yeah, I thought it was good also.” He said, and at that moment the ball game came on the TV. “You see, there is the game now, they are starting to play again.”

Now remember, I just changed the channel to the sports network.

“Yeah, let’s see what the score is…” I told him.
He got up, moved closer to the TV and pointed to the score. “That 48 is one of the numbers that lady picked and I think she is going to win now.” He said.
“Maybe, it is only the third quarter, so she may loose her numbers, but who knows. Let’s hope she wins. She looked like she was in the hospital so she probably has a lot of bills.” I told him.
“You know, I think your right,” he said.

I left the room and went in our bedroom to see Rob, I told him we had a new game to play. We turned off the sound on the TV and clicked on different channels and linked all of the shows together into one story. The problem was that our story wasn’t as nice as Bob’s. Maybe we are too connected with the world still and can’t detach ourselves from it.

Sarah and I detached ourselves on Friday and went to Sea World for part of the day. Rob stayed home with his Father and let Sarah and I get away. We need some time without him.

Bob went to the dentist on Thursday. He has to return to see the doctor. He has a filling that needs fixing and a wire on his dentures needs adjusting. Other than that he had a good report.

Well with the government in the shape that it is I am glad Bob is detached from it. It seems with all the gloom from the news and the rest of the world I don’t know if I should look towards the heavens, or crouch to the ground waiting for God’s wrath to pour out. Maybe I am to do a little of both.

Whether you are standing tall or crouching down, give him a call this week end, he would love to hear from you all.