Important Interaction

What a day, never before have so many car miles been covered so slowly and by so much water. Thats probably not actually true but that is what it felt like anyway.

Yesterday I managed to do my back in sitting down again. So after bedtime last night I went to the park to have a hang on the monkey bars. As expected the park was full of annoying teenagers, of which three girls decided they would try and annoy me by swinging into me whilst I hung. I was not in the mood for this after a tough evening with my own little pains so I made a joke with them that went right over their heads and got me some abuse and another swing into me. I decided that I would not react and that I would just treat them like their own parents do, ignore them and leave to find a more friendly park.

This morning I had a hot bath and revisited the now much calmer park and hung upside down for a bit which got me some funny looks but also really helped my back, at least for a bit. This was good as due to incredibly wet weather, a few accidents, roadworks and the dull british grand prix (its not a sport) it took us 8 hours to get up north to see grandpa bwhere.

He has now been moved to a beautiful hospice. Post surgery he has not not managed to make the miraculous recovery that we were all hoping for. Mind you we were maybe expecting too much given that the surgeon told us it was a miracle along that he got through his surgery followed by a second one only hours later to remove a clot on the brain.

The hospice is just down the road from where one of his oldest friends lives who today popped in to visit and squeeze the strange pink fish that Boy found with him.

It was great to see the little ones climbing all over Grandpa in his super bed watching Murrey get to the Wimbledon final. Grandpa has never been one for watching sports but this year there is simply no getting away from it I suppose. I queried his viewing on our arrival and he quietly replied that it was more significant than just a tennis match.

Grandpa drifts in and out of sleep and at times it is not sure if he is with us. Mind you at times I am not sure how much I am here given the level of chatter and activity in this family. There was a really lovely moment when Grandpa tickled Boy's feet whilst sitting on his bed, whilst watching the tennis together. Boy had a smile and a quiet giggle but did not turn his face to Grandpa. Grandpa looked me straight in the eye and, worried about boy quietly asked "Is he alright" I assured Grandpa that Boy was very happy.

No-one else saw this little interaction and when I told Wife a little later on she was really pleased as such interaction has been few and far between recently. We also liked the way Grandpa tried to entertain the little ones with the ball occupational therapist has given him. It was good seeing the little ones make Grandpa somehow more alert than I was expecting, but I should not really have been surprised given how he always has given himself over to them on every occasion possible.

On a personal note it was also good for me to see Grandpa for the first time since this came to light. I owe him for a lot, my whole family in fact.