Although Dad turned 90 in March, we (kids) planned a birthday party in mid June. The party was at Mark and Francine’s home in Lakewood Saturday, June 10th. We invited nearly 100 people and nearly 100 family and friends attended! Dad was in his glory and was so kind and gracious to everyone who was there and he was treated like royalty by all who attended. He couldn’t have been happier...I actually think he was in a bit of shock. Those that love him most, who could attend, were there. From children of his and mom’s kids and grandkids to dad’s siblings, their kids and those kids’ grandkids to friends mom and dad had for over 60 years to more recent acquaintances to favorite restaurant employees to former work alliances. They were all there to celebrate dad. What a glorious day it was for him!
We then had a Schuster family reunion in August planned by cousin Jeff, Uncle Ray’s son. He did a great job and again there was a wonderful turnout with over 100 family from the west coast to the east in attendance. Dad and his sister Arline were the elder members and seemed quite pleased. It was great for me to see cousins I hadn’t seen in at least 40 years. I played golf in the morning before the picnic with a group of cousins and their kin. I was on a foursome with cousin Sheila’s husband Mike and Sheila’s brother, cousin Mike’s son and daughter in law. Even though the golf score wasn’t great, it was a great time!
Otherwise, the summer was filled with dad’s doctors’ appointments, tending to the garden we had to have (more on this) and finding an ever changing routine to live within.
Gardening - When we returned from our trip, Dad decided he needed to plant a garden on his back patio which is the roof of his garage. Although he had a couple of self contained planters, we needed more! We went to Home Depot in late May and bought these along with some tomato, onion, bell pepper, banana pepper, jalapeño pepper and multiple kinds of squash plants. While outside in the garden center at Home Depot, Dad fell from a sitting position in his walker. Fortunately he was okay and with help from a couple employees, we got him up. The next day, my brother David thankfully came over and helped me plant these plants. One of the days following, Dad fell again from a cheapo plastic chair I’d bought for the back patio. Again, thankfully David was available to come over and help get dad upright. Then again a few days later, Dad tripped over his o2 hose and fell forward hitting his head on the coffee table, scraping skin off both forearms and bruising his hip and shoulder. Ugh. When One is 90, it takes forever for a skin adhesion to heal. So most of the summer, we were dealing with those wounds. But the garden was productive and we enjoyed and shared tomatoes, peppers and squash into September! We were all so very fortunate that he wasn’t hurt more seriously in any of these three falls!
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