Helping my father
 

start a new life. He's been alone for the past four years, since his second wife died. His friends have gotten older and become frail and he has, in his words, been living a real-life version of Groundhog Day. Until this summer he wouldn't discuss moving, but this summer he decided it was time. He's very sharp but has a neurological problem that has left him with pain and significant weakness in his legs. For someone who grew up hunting, fishing, and being active all his life, it's very frustrating for him.

I'm in the Toronto airport this morning, en route to Ottawa to pick him up and bring him to PA this weekend. He'll live with us - fortunately the house is very well designed for someone with mobility issues. He's looking forward to this ... just happy I can do this for him.

You're not fooling me, he's coming down here to escape the their communist health care system. :haha:

You're a good daughter.

This is one of the reasons I'm glad that Texas is a "community property" state. You can try to keep separate finances all you want, but at the end of the day, if you're married, everything belongs to everyone. Heck, even if you're not married--my parents never were, but they still needed a lengthy divorce proceeding because they had lived together long enough to be considered common-law married.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Whew ... a very long day of travel. Did you know that after going through security in Ottawa, you have to go through it all over again in Toronto? And wheelchair-bound people have to either walk through the screener or submit to a pat-down in which the security person wants them to stand for several minutes while being frisked, and while they (security) wand every inch of the airline's wheelchair. :eyebrow:

The airline staff were great at every step, which made up for the TSA/Canadian equivalent stupidity. I can't say enough good things about Air Canada. Great service and flights on time. By the time we got back to smalltown we were both bushed. I'm still bushed two days later.

It's all totally worth it. My father is so happy to be with us. He can get around the house independently, and the few retrofits we did allow him to be independent in all activities of daily living. He can get out onto our back deck and front porch, both of which are flush with the doors. He played darts last night for the first time and won the first game; he's looking forward to playing pool and backgammon and chess. He will be able to go out to movies or on errands whenever he likes - he was house-bound in Ottawa. I'm SO glad this all worked out!

Brilliant!

Sent by thought transference

Sounds like a huge quality of life improvement!