So it is summertime and I am extremely excited and ready for a much needed vacation, but regardless of my plans I cannot neglect my duties to Papa. So what do I do? I take off two hours early on friday in order to get him to wally before my friend picks me up to head out of town for my (did i mention it was much needed?) beach vaca.
As I am leaving the office I call him and let him know that I am going to swing into the neighborhood, park my car, and hop into his grandpa mobile so that we can make this a quick trip. We were even going to have to change from his usual location (which adds an additional 10 minutes to the drive, but I am not going to deprive a poor man of his love of a certain wal-mart) to one that is more convenient. "I hate the height of their counters" he grumbles under his breath "but Ok, I know you are in a hurry."
So I park on the street and run in to gather papa. He is standing in front of the microwave heating up his tea. "hey Sug" (pronounced like the beginning of sugar for all you non-southerners.) "What up Pop, you ready?" I say as I slip off my high heels and into my comfy flops. "You aren't wearing those things are you? Looks like you grew up in the bad part of the trailer park." I hear Nana laugh from the other room and she walks in. "Hi darling" she says in her sweet spanish accent. "Nana, are they that bad?" She crinkles her nose in a way that I knew she was saying yes but squeezed a "nooo not that bad" lie out. Ughhhh. "Too bad! I am wearing them. And I am in a HURRY!" I say.
"well, if i knew you were gonna be dressed like that I wouldn't have even taken the time to bathe and shave" papa says. I shoot him a look and Nana says "GEO-rge, Behave." My sentiments exactly. Nicely done nana, nicely done. I couldn't really complain since 99% of the time he would have still been sitting in his lay-z-boy with his heels kicked up and nana laying on the bed playing cash cab against eachother. I can almost hear him saying "good job- Mama! Can't believe you got that one. I didn't know they used to make the frame of a brazziere out of whale bone..." He was all the way at the right side of the house so I figured I really couldn't complain about the flip-flop bashing too much.
So Papa and I head off to our destination, and as per usual I drop him off at the front door. "K- papa, run in, get your cart and I will meet you in the pharmacy." I tell him. "What's that dear?" he says and he finagles his mug of tea into the cup holder. "Nothing, I'll find you."
He wanders in chatting with everyone as they walk by, I just roll my eyes and figure the car behind me is pretty pissed since he is talking to them in the walkway between the road and the door. Oh well, don't have time to tell him to move. My friend is going to be picking me up in 2 hours and I haven't showered or packed. Time for the pedal to hit the medal so to speak. As I am walking in there is a man with a slit cut out of his tupperware container and a description of some service for the community he is offering printed on computer paper and duct-taped to the front and asks me for a donation. "sure, on the way out" I tell him and go on about my way to find the elusive man I like to call Papa.
So we go through our regular ritual although he is in a particularly reminiscing type mood telling me that "he hasn't seen yellow meat watermelons like that since Uncle Claude was growing them on his farm when he was just knee-high." I really enjoy him regailing me if his childhood tales, but when he isn't planning on buying the melon just telling me a story I wonder why he picked the most rushed trip we have ever had to tell me this particular one...
We finally make it to the counter to pay for our goods the lady asks me how I am doing "Fine, thank you." I say half distracted by papa's scooter skills (or lack thereof) and he tells me he will meet me in just a minute. "That's good. It's hot out there isn't it?" she says back to me. "Umm.. hmm" I answer back. "You running to restroom, Papa?" I ask him wanting to know so that I don't have to search high and low for him after I pay. "Something like that.." he mumbles as he walks off. "How are you doing today" the greeter asks me again. How strange of her to ask twice, I chalk it up to her having amnesia and answer again "Fine, thanks. Except for the ridiculous heat- must be 100 degrees out there today." "Amen. Sure is hot out there." I keep thinking that she is going to ask me a third time but she just bags up papa's produce, say my goodbyes and go looking for him. Not by the bathroom, not getting coffee... where is he? So I wheel the cart outside past the man with the tupperware and he asks me to donate again. I put a couple bucks in his makeshift bin all the while looking for papa on this benches and rocking chairs they sit outside to advertise that they have them. Not here either? GEEZZ!! I told him I was in a hurry! So I wheel the 300 lb cart around the front of the store and to the other door, back inside, look in the vision and nail center and no Papa. I wheel back out the door and end up in front of the man I just donated to and he asks me for money. WHAT IS WITH THESE PEOPLE, ARE THEY KIDDING ME? Finally I see Papa's red sweatshirt and golf hat peeping up over the rows of cars, three rows over from ours. "PAPA!" I yell as I push the cart over toward him. "PAAAPAAAAA" I said having to yell loud enough to embarass myself, not to mention I am sweating from lugging aroung this cart in the heat. He turns around slowly with his coffee and I point where the car is and he heads that way. When he finally gets to the car after I had already unloaded the car, returned the cart, and gotten the air on, he bee bops up. "What were you doing wandering around the parking lot? You know I was in a hurry." I quickly ask him. "Well," he says mid-sip of the coffee he went off to get "I walked out here and realized I couldn't remember where we parked so I have been going down the aisles." "Papa-I dropped you off at the front door." I tell him. "Doggone- no wonder I couldn't find the old la-sabre." Long story short (well.. not really..but...figuratively speaking) I wasn't ready when my friend picked me up, but who can blame me? Papa is retired, even his coffee mug is laid back.
As I am leaving the office I call him and let him know that I am going to swing into the neighborhood, park my car, and hop into his grandpa mobile so that we can make this a quick trip. We were even going to have to change from his usual location (which adds an additional 10 minutes to the drive, but I am not going to deprive a poor man of his love of a certain wal-mart) to one that is more convenient. "I hate the height of their counters" he grumbles under his breath "but Ok, I know you are in a hurry."
So I park on the street and run in to gather papa. He is standing in front of the microwave heating up his tea. "hey Sug" (pronounced like the beginning of sugar for all you non-southerners.) "What up Pop, you ready?" I say as I slip off my high heels and into my comfy flops. "You aren't wearing those things are you? Looks like you grew up in the bad part of the trailer park." I hear Nana laugh from the other room and she walks in. "Hi darling" she says in her sweet spanish accent. "Nana, are they that bad?" She crinkles her nose in a way that I knew she was saying yes but squeezed a "nooo not that bad" lie out. Ughhhh. "Too bad! I am wearing them. And I am in a HURRY!" I say.
"well, if i knew you were gonna be dressed like that I wouldn't have even taken the time to bathe and shave" papa says. I shoot him a look and Nana says "GEO-rge, Behave." My sentiments exactly. Nicely done nana, nicely done. I couldn't really complain since 99% of the time he would have still been sitting in his lay-z-boy with his heels kicked up and nana laying on the bed playing cash cab against eachother. I can almost hear him saying "good job- Mama! Can't believe you got that one. I didn't know they used to make the frame of a brazziere out of whale bone..." He was all the way at the right side of the house so I figured I really couldn't complain about the flip-flop bashing too much.
So Papa and I head off to our destination, and as per usual I drop him off at the front door. "K- papa, run in, get your cart and I will meet you in the pharmacy." I tell him. "What's that dear?" he says and he finagles his mug of tea into the cup holder. "Nothing, I'll find you."
He wanders in chatting with everyone as they walk by, I just roll my eyes and figure the car behind me is pretty pissed since he is talking to them in the walkway between the road and the door. Oh well, don't have time to tell him to move. My friend is going to be picking me up in 2 hours and I haven't showered or packed. Time for the pedal to hit the medal so to speak. As I am walking in there is a man with a slit cut out of his tupperware container and a description of some service for the community he is offering printed on computer paper and duct-taped to the front and asks me for a donation. "sure, on the way out" I tell him and go on about my way to find the elusive man I like to call Papa.
So we go through our regular ritual although he is in a particularly reminiscing type mood telling me that "he hasn't seen yellow meat watermelons like that since Uncle Claude was growing them on his farm when he was just knee-high." I really enjoy him regailing me if his childhood tales, but when he isn't planning on buying the melon just telling me a story I wonder why he picked the most rushed trip we have ever had to tell me this particular one...
We finally make it to the counter to pay for our goods the lady asks me how I am doing "Fine, thank you." I say half distracted by papa's scooter skills (or lack thereof) and he tells me he will meet me in just a minute. "That's good. It's hot out there isn't it?" she says back to me. "Umm.. hmm" I answer back. "You running to restroom, Papa?" I ask him wanting to know so that I don't have to search high and low for him after I pay. "Something like that.." he mumbles as he walks off. "How are you doing today" the greeter asks me again. How strange of her to ask twice, I chalk it up to her having amnesia and answer again "Fine, thanks. Except for the ridiculous heat- must be 100 degrees out there today." "Amen. Sure is hot out there." I keep thinking that she is going to ask me a third time but she just bags up papa's produce, say my goodbyes and go looking for him. Not by the bathroom, not getting coffee... where is he? So I wheel the cart outside past the man with the tupperware and he asks me to donate again. I put a couple bucks in his makeshift bin all the while looking for papa on this benches and rocking chairs they sit outside to advertise that they have them. Not here either? GEEZZ!! I told him I was in a hurry! So I wheel the 300 lb cart around the front of the store and to the other door, back inside, look in the vision and nail center and no Papa. I wheel back out the door and end up in front of the man I just donated to and he asks me for money. WHAT IS WITH THESE PEOPLE, ARE THEY KIDDING ME? Finally I see Papa's red sweatshirt and golf hat peeping up over the rows of cars, three rows over from ours. "PAPA!" I yell as I push the cart over toward him. "PAAAPAAAAA" I said having to yell loud enough to embarass myself, not to mention I am sweating from lugging aroung this cart in the heat. He turns around slowly with his coffee and I point where the car is and he heads that way. When he finally gets to the car after I had already unloaded the car, returned the cart, and gotten the air on, he bee bops up. "What were you doing wandering around the parking lot? You know I was in a hurry." I quickly ask him. "Well," he says mid-sip of the coffee he went off to get "I walked out here and realized I couldn't remember where we parked so I have been going down the aisles." "Papa-I dropped you off at the front door." I tell him. "Doggone- no wonder I couldn't find the old la-sabre." Long story short (well.. not really..but...figuratively speaking) I wasn't ready when my friend picked me up, but who can blame me? Papa is retired, even his coffee mug is laid back.
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