Today was an unusual visit with my parents. My dad is always one to ask “What’s new this week?” My daughter shares that today is the first day of track season. My mom pipes in and asks my son, “Do you run the hurdles? You know Pop-Pop was a hurdler.” My son is quite graceful in talking with my parents and he answers like it’s the first time he’s heard this or been asked this question.
However, the next 5 minutes of conversation jumps between my dad in high school and
my dad at West Point. Even I’m struggling to understand the conversation. At one point my dad says, “Well you were there the year before I graduated.”
I giggle – “No Dad, I couldn’t have been there the year before you graduated.” He knows I’m sincere and laughs as he says, “Yeah, that couldn’t be.”
This is the first time I’ve noticed him being this jumbled in his time on something that happened in the past. Worried.