Boys of Summer Book - Entry #95

You can see the complete film "Boys of Summer" for free by clicking here. 

100% proceeds go to the Michael J Fox Foundation. 

 August 1, 2004 - Dad
Milwaukee, WI

Bob and I are up and on our way to Milwaukee and Miller Field.   We have a very good tailgate party and an interview with a local TV station.  The game was very interesting between the Brewers and Pittsburgh.  The Brewers win on a suicide squeeze play.

After the game, most of our group returns to the parking lot to drink sodas and beer while the traffic clears. 

Park Number 21 (of 30), Jacobs Field

Milwaukee 8, Pittsburgh 7
WP: L. Vizcaino (4-2)   LP: B. Meadows (2-3)

August 2, 2004 (Late Night) - Bob
Milwaukee, WI

After feeling numb for much of the trip (with my nose literally to the grindstone), I am starting to breathe a little easier (save for the damned money worries...). I wish there was an easy way to quell them, but hard costs demand hard cash. We’re definitely within range of the end of the trip -- less than three weeks. At the same time, I think I have about one week’s worth of funds right now...

August 2, 2004 - Dad
Vedersburg, IN

Bob and I are up early and go for a long walk in downtown Milwaukee. We walk for at least an hour. 

After that, we’re on our way to Vedersburg, Indiana to visit Don Auter’s family. Don is a long time very dear friend from the state of Washington. We are staying with Don’s sister, Suzy and her husband, Tom. They are very warm and generous people.

I take advantage of the opportunity to take a nap and when I wake, it is dinner time and many of Don’s brothers, sisters and spouses have arrived.  We enjoy a very pleasant dinner and evening with them. Don is the only sibling that does  not live in the Vedersburg area. I feel like these people have opened themselves up to us and made us feel very welcome. At the end of the evening they give Bob an envelope with a cash donation they have collected.

Boys of Summer Book - Entry #94

You can see the complete film "Boys of Summer" for free by clicking here. 

100% proceeds go to the Michael J Fox Foundation. 

August 1, 2004 - Bob
Milwaukee, WI

Happy August. My stomach’s troubling me a bit this morning. Too much spicy food -- I know better but I do so much enjoy it.

Fun Sign on the way to Milwaukee: “The Mars Cheese Castle” on the 94.

I feel sick, frankly. Heart sick and soul sick. I’m thinking about Bella and hoping she’s well. In the meantime, I’m just not feeling well. I’m worried about money. We’ve come this far and -- I have to believe we’re going to make it. I don’t let dad in on this because I don’t want him to worry. This trip is a gift to him and I want to keep it as such.

It is what it is. I have choices to make and I’m making them. Life continues to turn in the fashion that it does -- back upon itself. Work and be -- know that where you are is a natural extension of the choices made. The choices made...the choices made...

On the road to Milwaukee

As we’re driving to Milwaukee, my dad got hungry. We didn’t have time to pull over, so I offered to spoon feed him some fruit as he was driving. As I was doing so, it sparked a memory for him:

DC:
I was in the hospital when mom was dying --

RC:
Your mom - Grandma.

DC:
Right. The last thing she said to me before she died, as I was feeding her applesauce. “Imagine this. I started off feeding you and here you are feeding me.” That was the last thing she said.

RC:
And how did that make you feel?

DC:
It made me feel like she was going to be dying pretty soon. She was in and out of a coma. All her vital signs were failing. It was nice to have the recognition from her. It hadn’t been there for a couple of days before that. So that’s what I saw in her eyes was the recognition. And that was nice.

I thought about that for a moment and felt a bit uncomfortable with the parallel, me feeding my dad.

RC:
But as you said when we were getting interviewed at the Jake, you’re not planning on dying any time soon.

DC:
No.

RC:
That’s good. Especially since you’re driving right now.

DC:
I’m not planning on doing a Thelma and Louise.

RC:
And to clarify, when I talk about our sense of urgency for this trip, I’m not planning on you going along any time soon, either. But I think there is just a large X-Factor that has entered the equation and that is the Parkinson’s. The ability to do this trip with maximum enjoyment has you as mobile as possible so we can do this as freely as possible. At this point, you’re getting around just fine. Maybe a little bit slower but nothing that has impeded our trip. And that’s all I mean by taking this trip while we have the opportunity to. To do this on the level we want to. It’s like the story I like to tell about the people I met on the cruise ship when I was working there as 24 year old. They’d be in their 60’s or later and, yes, they got to be there, but they weren’t able to enjoy it the way they would have at 24. Age seems kind of like an earthquake magnitude. Every tenth of a number isn’t just one degree stronger, it’s something like 30 times the magnitude with each increment -- seems the same with each year in a life, especially later in life.

DC:
That’s a fact.