An Old Man

Tonight, Dad was the "oldest living man in the United States."

Dad's brother "was the oldest living man in Texas." He was "one year older" than Dad. (he was really 9 years older)

When Dad's brother died, "they did a census" and Dad was the "oldest living man."

My mother is "the oldest living woman in the United States" because she is one year younger than Dad. (She is really 7 years younger.)

Bedtime Stories

Putting my Dad to bed, my husband learned many interesting things:

"I am a black man" (repeated 2 times)

"No, I am a white man" (repeated 2 more times)

"I am a black man, and I bought your house in Oak Cliff."

"I lived in Chicago. It is very cold in Chicago."

"I retired with a pension and I moved to Dallas."

"It isn’t as cold in Texas. We have a Norther come through now and then, and then it gets warm again."

"I am a black man. My father was a black man."

"I moved back to the Congo. I worked in the factory in South Africa."

"Then I moved to the Congo. They have factories in the Congo. We are in the Congo. My father was a black man."

Eating Out

I was out of town at a conference during eat-out night this week. My husband reported what happened. First, Dad talked so much that he kept talking while stuffing food in his mouth. It was especially interesting to hear him hum what he was saying while he drank his tea.

Interesting information about China:
They have freedom of religion and there is an Seventh Day Adventist church there.
The Chinese living in west China don't speak Chinese - they speak English.

Many interesting things about what he (whoever he is and what his name is) has done:

His name is his brother's name and he moved from Arkansas to South Africa.

There are no blacks in South Africa. They live in central Africa.
Blacks in the U.S. moved back to Africa because they liked the weather.

My husband alternately was Dad's father, Dad, his Brother, his brother-in-law and Dad's brother again.

When my husband asked Dad his name, Dad responded, "You know my name, so I don't have to repeat it."

Dad married my husband's sister(this is while my husband was Dad's brother), whom he loves very much.

His mother had his wife's name (or his wife was his mother, my husband couldn't figure it out).

He was recruited to South Africa, where he made a little money, quite a bit of money, a large amount of money, no quite a bit of money, and retired early with a pension.

Pension and retirement - 2 words never far from his mind or mouth!

South Africa is like East Texas and West Texas. It has monsoons. It rains quite a bit.

He moved to south Africa (I think he was his brother at this point of the evening) because his 2 kids moved to South Africa. He doesn't know why they moved to South Africa, they just did.

He went to SMU, which is walking distance from his house on the other side of the river (in Oak Cliff).

A black man paid his cash for his house in Oak Cliff.

Age

We had another version of magically changing age tonight. Dad is currently 87, but this didn't make any difference in his musings. The most accurate age he got was 86, which is how old he said he was for about 1/2 hour.

For a while, Dad's parents were 101 and he was 86. His parents alternated between being alive at 101 and having lived to be 101, then died. His parents really lived to be 82. At one point, Dad's father was still alive, having retired at 101.

Dad got stuck on the age 101 for a while. He was 101 now and had just retired.

Then for a while, Dad was 65, having retired very wealthy at 65. The reason he was so wealthy was that he had been president of the company and made a lot of money. He invested the money he made in the stock market and become rich. He invested so well in the stock market that he continued to get enough dividends during the Depression to stay rich. He said that he made $3 1/2 million by investing at the "BOTTOM" (shouted) of the stock market. He used that money to buy a farm in East Texas, then struck oil on his farm.

Dad's father was an amazing man. Not only did he storm the beaches of Normandy and live to be 101, he never completed school, but still managed to be come a lawyer and was president of "the company" before Dad was.

More Family

Tonight, Dad thought he was mother. He said that they had been married "30, no 40 years" and that they had had "five, ten, fifteen, twenty-five sons and one daughter." One of their sons had been trained up by Dad (as mother) and was now "President of the Company." I am the Vice Presidentof the company, and I work part time so I can take care of my kids. According to Dad, I am in my 20s. I have 2 kids, but I am pregnant with baby #3. My brother, who is now President of the company, is just a few years older than I am.

As mother speaking to himself, he talked about how they had fallen in love and that "you proposed to me, and I accepted."

This morning, Dad alternated between be a Russian Christian and a Russian businessman. In both cases, he had fled persecution in Russia and was now in America. He spoke about Communists persecuting Christians and taking everything away from businessmen.

Shades of Hamlet

Last night, Dad was his father’s ghost. He was allowed to come back from the dead to tell us that he was in heaven. Dad repeated several times that he was a ghost. Dad’s speech is slurring so much of the time now that I can’t catch exactly what he is saying. All I can get is the repeated words and phrases. As his father’s ghost, he talked about the heathen. I’m not sure whether or not he said they were in heaven. He did talk about good outweighing bad, which is a Seventh Day Adventist doctrine.

At the restaurant, green beans and mashed potatoes were once again finger food. He did have better luck eating his chicken fried steak with his fork, dropping only a few pieces in his lap.