grandmas

Monday, January 16, 2012

My dad's state of mind

It's been confirmed.
I'm not looney. My dad is.
I was beginning to think I was just losing it because I tell him things that he denies having been told. I make plans based on plans that he says I never made.
He tells me things I've heard umpteen times before.
He's rewriting history AND he's pretty sure he's been much more present in my life than he has been.
So when the letter came to tell him his Aid and Attendance Pension had finally come through, I wasn't really as much surprised as grateful to the U.S. Government for recognizing what I suspected.
Basically the VA officials are saying if my dad is not capable of taking care of his basic needs himself then he isn't capable of taking care of the thousands of reimbursement dollars they plan to send him.
He's either competent or not and they're saying not.
That means my brothers and I will now have to take formal charge of this money (and the rest of it if we can convince him) so he doesn't fritter away his reimbursement.
(I think the Veterans Administration has learned just who and what they're dealing with. They're not about to hand over our tax dollars to aged veterans who are living in a fantasy world.)
It will be our job to see that his bills get paid and his money goes toward a good cause like staying safely off the street — quite literally.
I suspected he was making big plans for the money he expected. He kept pointing out the ragtop convertible Cadillac in the parking lot that somebody in the retirement home owns and keeps there under a tarp. He's made it clear that he's envious.
Plus, if I had any lingering doubts, they were vanquished when he looked my brother and I in the eye and said, "I know I have to get my affairs in order. I have to fix my credit rating if I want to buy another car."
This from a man who failed his driving test miserably just months ago. But then, according to him, the guy conducting the test had it in for him.

1 comment:

  1. I've been sitting her for the last half hour enjoying your blog. Has anyone ever told you what a talent you have for writing? (Ha ha!)

    Your words go down like liquid chocolate. I now feel informed (and entertained) on such things as zombie debt, possible child abductions (as well as precocious children,) the Sundance film festival, puppets, sewing machines, and your dad's financial follies (which are shamefully quite similar to my own.) I love it all and just thought I'd take a minute to comment before I continue reading. You know, you really should be a writer :) :)

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