A Green Bug

I need to clear up a bit of confusion that I caused. Morty, the vet who passed away was not the fellow I have been visiting at the VA for the last several years. That fellow is still with us, slowly descending into the same disease that took Morty so much faster. Morty spotted me […]

Morty Passes

My 2nd buddy, the Jewish vet, has passed away. It’s hard to fathom that just a few years back we chatted with him about Boston sports teams and when we could not remember the name of that racetrack in East Boston he said, right away, Suffolk Downs. I kept him up to date on our […]

With Music

Before visiting my guy, today, I engaged in very nasty and dumb fight with one of my oldest and dearest friends, a guy I love like a brother. So with that hanging over me, I went to see my guy. We wheeled out into the sunlight and I asked if the sun felt good. He […]

Love These Numbers!

It was St. Paddy’s day and everyone at Bingo was wearing a green hat. We sat across from a fellow who was so jovial and adorable that I couldn’t help thinking he was a leprechaun. He kept up a constant narration as the games went along, but rather than finding it annoying I loved it. […]

Can I Hold You

This is one of those times that my various worlds overlap. This takes the form of a song I wrote and sang in my other life as Uncle Jon, the Singer Song Writer. The phrase kept coming to me, “Tell me what I told you.” I don’t know if my guy actually ever said it. […]

Stand By Your Man

Would you rather go play bingo or watch videos? Videos. Soon we are sifting through the vast world of YouTube videos, looking for great live country performances. Glen Campbell: Gentle On My Mind. My guy sings right along. Roger Miller: King of the Road. My guy sings louder and fits his timing right around Roger. […]

Crushed Stone

Ha. What? Ha. What is it? Haaalf. Half what? Half inch. Half inch? Half inch die… Half inch die? Half inch diameter. I see, half inch diameter. Which? Half inch diameter crushed stone. In front of us is a bed of gravel, or to be precise, half inch diameter crushed stone. I pick up a […]

Que Será, Será

A woman came to sing for the residents today and with great energy she got smiles from those awake and woke up some that were submerged. There is a new woman resident who seems quite old. She likes to engage with people but confusion often results. Today when I walked in she was holding a […]

Angry Bingo

Went to Bingo again. Found a spot near a white haired fellow who was having a difficult time keeping up with the numbers. The nurse that was with him was helping him out when he missed a number. But he seemed angry. He struggled a bit to get the red covers to slide down over […]

Weekday Bingo

We wandered into a special weekday bingo game today. For some reason, the mood was much more jovial than the “official” Sunday game. It was held in an activity room without the big lighted scoreboard. People were wisecracking all around. The caller calls out “i17, i17, i17′. From across the room comes back “i hear […]