From A Mysterious Humming Noise. Published by Anvil Press in 2019. Howard White’s father, Frank White, was a truck driver, logger, gas station operator, excavationist, waterworks technician and author of Milk Spills and One-Log Loads: Memories of a Pioneer Truck Driver and That Went By Fast: My First Hundred Years. He died in 2015 at the age of 101.
Looking after my old man during his decline Through his nineties and finally past 100 I expected to be an unpleasant duty And it definitely had its messy parts But overall it was very enjoyable, Definitely brought us closer than ever Even though he was a shadow of the man he’d been. It was very educational, not just In instructing me in the care industry Trouble getting up? Buy a lift chair. Legs get tired standing at the stove? There’s a thing like a walking-stick seat You can move around the kitchen. Afraid of falling in the tub? There’s a $1000 gizmo to ease you up and down. Can’t stand at all any more? Time to move to a power wheelchair. Trouble loading peas onto the fork now? They have a big spork that comes with A special plate with a fence around it. But really it’s better to put everything in wraps or rolls. Can’t even manage that anymore? Purée everything for easy spoon-feeding. Like the man said it’s a long way down. But clever technology is waiting at every step And it’s all half price or less on Craigslist. The thing I really learned, though, Was how the final stages of life’s ending Form an exact parallel with its beginning: After nine decades of slow change Things start moving quickly again. Every week a changed ability of the body or mind Creates a whole new situation Needing altered gear and care strategies. And the fact your care-receiver Is changing every day for the worse Is not as depressing as you might think. There is something satisfying About all these long-lost chickens Coming home to roost.