Visit with Jack.

Yesterday Johnny & I had breakfast in York at the Stolen Menu Cafe (one of my fav places... sooooo delicious. If you are not familiar with this place, you NEED to go. It's a little pricey but their dishes are so unique and it's worth it for a special brunch once in a while. Yesterday I had "Georgia on my mind" which was bacon & cheddar cheese grits dressed with wilted leafy spinach, grilled asparagus and cherry tomatoes, topped with cheesy scrambled eggs drizzled with hollandaise sauce, baked southern-style ham and a sweetened grilled biscuit. yes, seriously. I love food.) Anyway, after this fabulous over-indulgent meal, we decided to stop by Sentry Hill and visit Johnny's grand-daddy Jack. Jack is now in his 98th year of life, and fairly recently moved to the Altzheimer's wing over at Sentry Hill, however, I think he's in pretty darn good shape for his age, and I love that he still has that twinkle in his eye, and remembers quite a lot - especially of the important things.

I've met Jack quite a few times, but unfortunately as I entered Johnny's life more seriously after his grandmother Dorothy's death and as Jack was seriously advancing into his 90's, he never seems to remember me (although he always seems to find me very pretty and mention it frequently during our time together, which I can't complain about at all!). The last time I saw him was when he was awarded the Order of the First State award by the governor of Delaware last summer. He kept trying to match me up with an older man from the newspaper that was there. 

This time, we went to tell him about our engagement. At first he seemed a bit surprised, since he'd never met me before, but he quickly warmed up to the idea and became excited about it, telling his roommate's family who were also visiting, the nurses, and the other people around when we walked with him to lunch. I was disappointed that when I showed him the ring, which had been his wife's, he didn't remember it (Johnny's Aunt Sallie had suggested he might have some stories, but unfortunately he did not), but it was overall a very nice visit. He has a beautiful picture from his & Dorothy's wedding day by his bed, which I hope we will be able to borrow and get a copy for display at our wedding. He talked lots about "his girl" (wife), as well as "his girls" (daughters), and how there were all busy and active and strong-willed - asked me if I was too, and warned Johnny about keeping up. :) He also asked other little questions about when the wedding was to be, and what we had planned so far.

Other than that the major topic of the day seemed to be travel. He happily reminisced about Scotland, living and traveling there and in Europe. It's always interesting to me with older people, which parts of their memory remain the strongest. It speaks volumes to the life experiences they valued the most, the things which stick with them, the people and moments they remember most clearly and enjoy talking about even as many other memories fade. His short-term memory is weak (such as remembering me from visit to visit, or remembering that the Scottish caps he thought his roommate had taken had been recovered and were sitting on the chair across from him at that very moment), but when he talked to Johnny about their travels together, certain things are very clear. It gives me hope he will make it to 100, and to our wedding day, to see how much is still clear as a bell for him. It made us sad, though, that we all aren't able to visit and spend more time with him more often. He seemed a little lonely, and like he missed all his girls quite a bit.

I also went by a bridal expo in Portsmouth yesterday and talked to a couple other photographers and dj's... not really sure what I'm looking to get out of these things at this point, but it put me back into wedding planning mood/zone again, and I got to spend some time with my mom which was nice.

Today is the last day of my three day weekend. It was very needed, and has been quite enjoyable & fairly productive so far. My living room is completely taken over by clean laundry that needs folding. That's my single must-do today. There are other things I'd like to do, but I still have my cough and woke up with new/more congestion in my nose, sinuses, and head. I'm taking mucinex (max strength!) and now some sudafed, and hoping that if I just keep on managing it and taking it easy, I WILL get better. So we'll see what I'm up for today. I wish I could take the whole week off and have a stay-cation, but perhaps I should save that for later in the month when we get into moving. Time for a little snuggle with Rudy and maybe a movie or nap. Or both. :)