"Grandpa's double my age..."

Sunday, April 14, 2013
I wanted to go to the park for a workout, but Dakota’s condition made me stay close to home.  She started the day unable to get up out of her cage.  I carried downstairs and outside so she could do her business, but she was having trouble walking.  She took her medicine when I covered it in peanut butter, but from there she found her way to a place to lay down and didn’t move for hours.  I knew what was coming next.  I’d be taking her back to the vet’s the next morning and they’d be opening up her intestines and trying to find what was causing the blockage or determining if it was cancer.  This wonderfully conditioned and healthy dog had seemed to become old and infirmed overnight, in front of my eyes.  It was breaking my heart.

I went out to wash the cars to distract myself and when I came back inside later, found her standing at the door, waiting to come out.  She joined me in the back yard, quickly moving to one of the many tennis balls she had throughout the yard for me to whack that she might chase them.  She was wobbling some, but she really wanted to run and she seemed quite different than the dog I’d carried outside earlier that day.  I took her inside and fed her and although she seemed whipped by the activity, at least she was moving and looking somewhat perky.

The family arrived for dinner and stayed late, leaving me no time to work out but plenty of time to visit, which trumps working out.  After they’d left, Jack, always impressed with how well his grandfather gets around, asked how old he was.

“He’s 92.  Not bad for an old guy,” I said.

“Yeah…he’s like double my age,” Jack said.

Holly and I both turned to stare at him.  “What?  He is double my age,” Jack repeated.

“Um Jack…you’re 18.  Double your age would be 36.  He’s five times your age,” I said.

He looked at me like I was a dunce.  “Right…which is double my age,” he repeated.

“Did you mean to say that he’s more than double your age?” I offered, but he wasn’t biting. To his way of thinking, anything that was more than double was double.  His brain works…it’s just different, is all.