Remember

The now all too familiar theme from the old show, Mr. Ed. was blasting from the living room. "A horse is a horse, of course, of course..."

"Dad!" Debbie shouted. "Please turn that down!"

"This is great!" Dad shouted back. "Did you know there was a show about a talking horse?"

"Yes, Dad. You've seen that show a hundred times! Just turn it down."

The volume went down slightly, but within a minute, it was back up. Her dad had begun having memory problems about a year ago, and Debbie and her husband, Dave, had moved him into their house for his own safety. The doctor said it was early onset Alzheimer's and things would only get worse. And they certainly had!

Dave walked in just then and said "Hey, Deb. What's up?"

Debbie glared at him and snapped, "That man is driving me crazy, that's what's up! I swear, sometimes he's as dumb as a brick! I'm about to take that remote control away from him".

"Wow," Dave said, "I guess he'd deserve that!" and walked from the room.

Debbie was irritated with Dave's flip response, but then she started thinking about what her dad deserved.

Her mom had died when her car hit a tree on the way home from work when Debbie was ten and her dad was consumed with grief, yet still was able to comfort her and her younger sister. Without the extra income, Dad had to sell the house and move them into a smaller place. He had to drive farther to work, and would often come home late, but always, after the sitter left, he would read them stories, encourage them and tell them he loved them.

Debbie went to her dad's side, leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I love, you Dad!"