Magic word? Yeah, or you can roll right through to get what you want.
I like my children to be polite, to say please and thank you.
It’s good manners.
My three kids have caught on and when they forget to end their request for something, I often chip in to remind them. “What’s the magic word?”
That triggers their recall.
Well, most of the time.
At breakfast the other day with the three children, my youngest daughter asked for a glass of water. I looked at her and let out my now timeworn question: “What’s the magic word?” [continue reading…]
“We’re here, Granddad.”
My dad is getting weaker, frailer and bonier.
The doctors tell us that not much more can be done to help the 93-year-old other than to give him painkillers, sedatives and sleeping pills. This may ease the pain in his cancer-ridden body that over the past weeks has been resigned to his bed in our house.
The doctors have started him on a codeine mix, a precursor to morphine. They hope this will help him sleep at night so he doesn’t toss in bed because each movement exacts pain, screams of agony and calls for help from my wife and me.
We’ve not slept much lately, making frequent trips to his room to help him get comfortable, give him glasses of water and juice, and to soothe his thoughts.
The codeine appears to be helping. He fell into a sort of slumber tonight and we relaxed for the first time in weeks. [continue reading…]
“You see that! They’re kissing!”
As a father, you often go to all lengths to please your children. Believe me, I know.
Let me tell you why.
My youngest daughter, freshly five and as brash as always, said to me, “Let’s go to the park.”
I said, “Soon.”
“You’ve said that six times,” she said.
I didn’t know she’d been keeping count. But come to think of it, she was right. That was “soon” number six.
“First,” I told her, “we’ve got to clean up the bedroom.”
“Bugger!” she said loudly.
I laughed. She didn’t get that word from me. That’s an English word and, well, Mum’s English, not me. Then I stopped laughing in case Mum heard. [continue reading…]
