:
Yesterday marked a post-birthday visit to my father. I was rather dreading it, for not only was the weather acting up, but I was feeling considerably under it. Certainly in no mood to spend a total of four hours driving.
It went well enough, however. We hardly did a thing besides chat and watch a silly Golf match on television, but I would count it as a successful visit, as the number of horrible pictures taken of myself was minimal, and my father made very little in the way of insensitive comments. He did insist on putting me on the telephone with anyone who happened to ring him, which meant that I spoke to two perfect strangers who gave their regards, but I do prefer strangers to relatives. In addition, he suggested that I do some grocery shopping in his refrigerator to help rid him of excess fruit and sandwich meats, and I did so-knowing that there was really no way around it, no matter how out-of-date everything was.
I also did something that I would normally not do. My father was watching the horse races on television, and he chose a horse to bet on- and insisted on my doing the same. Reluctantly, I chose "Coin Silver," an animal new to the world of racing and thought to have quite a bit of potential. It seemed as if my fellow was going to take last place, but during the last half of the race, he promptly picked up the pace-and won. A very lucky guess on my part.
The visit ended with my father offering to give me one of his vehicles, as I have had so many troubles with my own. This was a very kind gesture, but I declined, as the Lincoln which he offered is nearly twenty years old-and would surely not survive the commute to Burlington.
It went well enough, however. We hardly did a thing besides chat and watch a silly Golf match on television, but I would count it as a successful visit, as the number of horrible pictures taken of myself was minimal, and my father made very little in the way of insensitive comments. He did insist on putting me on the telephone with anyone who happened to ring him, which meant that I spoke to two perfect strangers who gave their regards, but I do prefer strangers to relatives. In addition, he suggested that I do some grocery shopping in his refrigerator to help rid him of excess fruit and sandwich meats, and I did so-knowing that there was really no way around it, no matter how out-of-date everything was.
I also did something that I would normally not do. My father was watching the horse races on television, and he chose a horse to bet on- and insisted on my doing the same. Reluctantly, I chose "Coin Silver," an animal new to the world of racing and thought to have quite a bit of potential. It seemed as if my fellow was going to take last place, but during the last half of the race, he promptly picked up the pace-and won. A very lucky guess on my part.
The visit ended with my father offering to give me one of his vehicles, as I have had so many troubles with my own. This was a very kind gesture, but I declined, as the Lincoln which he offered is nearly twenty years old-and would surely not survive the commute to Burlington.