Tuesday, December 22, 2009

They Sell Bubble Bath at Kmart

That girl sure liked to talk. We talked and talked and talked, mostly about movies and rather or not the movie characters were real. In case you were wondering the talking fish in Finding Nemo are not real and neither is Batman who lives in Gothem, a pretend city. I was however at a loss as to how to describe what a robot is.
"I took a bath this morning." she informed me.
"Me too." I said.
"I took one with bubble bath." she excitedly proclaimed, "Did you take a bubble bath?"
"No I didn't" I admitted.
"Why nooooooot?" she inquired.
"Well, I don't have any bubble bath."
"They have it at Kmart." she informed me.
"Well then maybe I will have to buy some for next time." I smiled.

He shook my hand and then asked an important question. "Are you my buddy?"
"I sure am" I said.
"I love you, do you love me?" he wanted to know.
"Yes I do love you." I replied.

She was probably only 4 feet tall and walked bent over with a walker. I don't think she knew how to talk. She did however know how to laugh and that may be more important. She was fan of slapstick. When my mom accidentally dropped the Christmas tree on the floor she cracked up laughing. I really think she would enjoy watching the Three Stooges.

He didn't talk much. I didn't hear him say one word. He sure did enjoy music though. When the music came on he would hum along and sway side to side. He was good at swaying.

I don't remember much about her but I do know that she said that she wants a top hat for Christmas. A top hat, that's a great Christmas wish. Another guy said that he wanted popcorn for Christmas but personally I would rather have a top hat.

The only words that I heard him say were "bye." He walked with a bit of a sideways limp and he walked fast. High fives and asking the time were his things. He seemed excited and would often put his fist in his mouth. A nervous habit I suppose. He point out the window at the snow. "I like snow too" I would say. If he was sitting he wanted someone to sit next to him but most of the time he was walking. He really liked to walk.

I did puppets with my mom today at a home for the mentally disabled where she works. It was a Christmas party. Everyone likes a party. This was a new experience for me. It wasn't uncomfortable and it didn't feel strange, it was just different. I wonder what it's like to never grow up, for your mind to remain in a state of suspended animation. I felt a lot of emotions while I was there. I think most of them were happiness. I like seeing people smile. I was happy that they were happy and most of them looked happy.

5 comments:

Francy said...

Great post Dan! If I don't see you before Friday, Merry Christmas! You are one of my favorite people in the world.

Kelly said...

Awesome! did you get your bubble bath yet?

Not Too Old said...

Merry Christmas my friend. Sounds like an awesome way to spend your day. Perchance instead of happiness (dependent on the external situation) what you experienced was joy?

melanie said...

I love your mom. I miss her. Does she work there on a regular basis?

I like this post. Not only the message, but the way you wrote it.

DanThoms said...

Thanks Melanie. My mom works there full time as their events coordinator. So if they don't go swimming or bowling one week the residents get to say to her, "why Diane, why you do this to me? I want to swim"