Some days are just better than others

Yesterday I spent the entire day with my father at an opthalmology appointment. You may think this is an exaggeration, but when you include travel time and the fact that the appointment was three and one half hours long, it was an entire day.

As you could surmise, we did a lot of waiting.

We checked in.

Wait.

He does his initial exam.

Wait.

He takes a test.

Wait.

We see the doctor.

Wait.

He has a procedure.

I wait some more.

Well, we weren't the only ones waiting. And when you are in a confined waiting area with others in the same predicament conversations soon start or you make up stories about the individuals or you do both.

There was a couple sitting across from my dad and I, he in a wheelchair, she being the much more verbal of the two.

Every fifteen minutes or so she would comment, "Well, we've all been here for the same length of time and no one has moved, are they sending anyone out of this place?"

Some of us smiled (me) but most ignored her comments. This would be my dad. He can't hear but so far has refused to get a hearing test, so he ignored her because he couldn't hear her.

Soon her son shows up. I know this because she announced to the person sitting next to her that her son just "dropped them off and would show up later."

Well, he shows up and he looks as if he had just gotten off his Harley. He has on a leather coat and cap covering his gray pony tail. I would easily say he was of my generation, still stuck in 1968.

We don't strike up a conversation until my dad asks me about the status of the plane crash from Malaysia. I say I don't think there is any change and Mr. Ponytail interrupts and says, "oh, they've found pieces of the plane. It exploded in the air."

Really? I hadn't heard. Do they know the cause?

"Yup, terrorism. Probably the two with the stolen passport."

Wow. Then I check my phone for more details and well, you know the answer. Nothing.

Mr. Ponytail now assumes we are now friends, so he says, "Do you know about stones?"

Kidney stones? (How did he get to this segue?)

"Yup, well I had one. And.."

At this time my dad's name is called. I say, "Dad, this is us."

In the meantime Mr. Ponytail continues telling me what caused his kidney stones while my dad says, "Are you sure it's us?"

Since I'm the only one of the two of us who can hear, I'm pretty sure I'm right.

So I'm trying to corral my dad and at the same time end the kidney stone conversation by stating the obvious as I'm standing, holding our coats and urging my dad, "Well, it looks like we are finally up."

Nope that didn't deter Mr. Ponytail. He continues with eye contact and his story.

Unfortunately my dad moves slowly and we had about twenty feet to cover, so it was enough time for Mr. Ponytail to get closure.

And if you are curious the two foods he believes cause kidney stones are rhubarb and spinach. And he was eating a lot, and he means a lot, of spinach before he got the stone.

I guess somebody had to entertain me on such a long day.