The Band of Butlers: Lunch "Date" with Dad

After Amy and Barrett got baptized at the ranch, I took Dad to his house and stayed with him overnight. Bryan has been a true champ... he's been with Dad 24/7 since the day before his seizure, so they needed some time apart before Bryan headed back home. Although Dad is pretty self-sufficient, we have to remind him he is on hospice care for a reason. He doesn't always think clearly due to the brain tumors and needs someone to keep an eye on him. It had been a looooong time since I stayed at Dad's overnight, but when you lived in a house for 18 years, all the familiarity comes back. Dad has never needed much sleep and the medication he is on now causes him to be wired most of the day, so we stayed up late, woke up a few times throughout the night and were up again bright and early. Dad's sister, Carmen, had a stroke while he was in the hospital, so I took him to the hospital in San Antonio to see her. We stopped at Billy Bob's in Castroville on the way home and had a great lunch together. Conway Twitty (Dad's favorite that he has ingrained into all of his children's brains) was even playing on the radio when we walked in. He was craving shrimp, so without looking at the menu, but with much deliberation between the shrimp plate and the shrimp & fish plate, I ordered the shrimp & fish for him. I ordered a cheeseburger for myself and when we received our food, he commented how good it all look. He even suggested we do like kids do in the cafeteria, I give him some of my hamburger and he would give me some of his shrimp & fish in return. As an elderly man sat at the table next to us, Dad made sure to mention to him that I was his daughter, not his girlfriend. I'm not sure why he felt he needed to tell the old man that or if his medication was wearing off, but the man replied, "Either way, you're a lucky man." That made us all laugh (and me cry a little...) and the old man, who was a veteran, told a quick war plane story. Dad loved listening to the story with a childlike intrigue and the old man loved telling the story. He thought the burger joint was a cool place and said he should take Tanya there to buy her lunch since she has been driving him to almost all of his appointments in San Antonio and they usually grab something to eat. Then he said we (the whole family) should all go there again together like we did for his birthday years ago. It surprised me that he remembered that birthday celebration since it was about 6 years ago from my recollection. Although we had plans to do a few more things on his famous never-ending list, we decided it had been a great day and he should probably take it easy and head home. It was a pretty regular day, but special all at the same time. I can't remember the last time Dad and I spent time together just the two of us, so I'm glad we got to have a non-date lunch "date" together.