Estoy tomando agua.

If you walked into his room early morning, you’d form the snap clinical picture of a harmless elderly debilitated gentleman who was unaware and unoriented. But, you’d be wrong. You see, as you were grabbing a pair of gloves from the box on the wall he had cracked his eyelid, just long enough to register who had entered his room, before closing it tight again having decided if you were worth his attention or not.

I quickly had caught on that he was, in fact, appropriate…. Just didn’t like mornings.  Kind of like a teenager who grunts in response to questions he/she doesn’t want to answer, he would grunt. Sometimes he’d crack his eyelid to stare at me a moment or two, maybe contemplating if it was a question worth responding to, before closing it again and delivering his grunt. Some mornings were better than others, and afternoons infinitely better than mornings. But even when most tired, he never avoided my questions, even his grunts would be in either an affirmative or negative manner.  

There’s no denying he was a sick gentleman, but after awhile there was no further intervention we could do for him at the hospital. One of the many limiting factors in his care, keeping him fully dependent on others, was his inadequate nutrition. If left alone, he would never eat enough. Grabbing his cup of water and holding the straw to his lips every morning he would oblige me and drink. Even grumpy in the mornings, he still wanted to be able to leave the hospital, and he understood that my cup of water every morning wasn’t to torture him. He had to prove he could maintain hydration to leave, so he would drink, sometimes without even opening his eyes for me, but he would drink.

One morning as he drank the water I held up to him, I went through my usual reassurances and encouragements. Unfortunately, my tongue got tied and I told him to “make sure it doesn’t go down the wrong poop.” Fumbling embarrassed, I tried to backtrack and correct myself, but then stopped as I looked at him. His eyes were wide open, his mouth cracked open in a long and hearty inaudible laugh.

You know... he’d never admit it, but he’s going to miss me waking him up super early every morning. Maybe, I’ll miss him a little bit too.

Much Love and Prayers.