The Adventures of Grandpa Guy

Our dear friend Guy Meehling, has come and stayed with us for the month of November. He left early this morning (He left our house at 4AM) to return to Seattle Washington. Grandpa Guy has been a family friend since before I was born and our neighbor for the last 14 years. He moved away about a year and a half ago after his wife passed away.
Grandpa Guy is 91 years old and in excellent physical and mental shape. He is legally blind due to macular degeneration, but he doesn't let that slow him down. He gets up early and does his calisthenics, and walks 3-5 miles/day and tries to get in a bike ride also. In his quiet time he listens to MP3 of scripture and goes through the entire New Testament about once a week.

He arrived on November 2nd at 11:15 PM. By the time DH brought him back to our house it was 12:15 and DH quickly fell into bed. At 12:30 there is a steady knocking at our bedroom door as Mr. Meehling announced that he had made a terrible mistake. There was a 'corset in his suitcase'. My honey investigated and sure enough he had picked up the wrong bag. Poor Helga Martin hopefully had another corset nearby. We called the airport and in the morning, DH went and picked up the correct bag and brought back Helga's. (Isn't Helga just the perfect name for a woman who still wears a corset?) We learned a life lesson here and for your benefit: When picking up a blind person from the airport always double check that they have the right bags.

The next day when Grandpa Guy was heading out for his walk, we asked him if he would like to take Dallas along for exercise. He was more than happy to do so. Mr. Boots walked with them a little ways and they did fine. What we DIDN'T know was that he was planning to go shopping, not just a walk around the neighborhood. He took Dallas to Giant Eagle, but Dallas was afraid of the automatic doors and so wouldn't go in. Same thing at Marc's. He was fine with the sliding doors at Sears and the normal ones at Bob Evans, so he was able to take him in those places. No one said anything. He does carry a white cane when he is out walking. Maybe people thought Dallas was a service animal. No one bothered the old blind man who brought his dog into the store. The waitress even held the leash while he went into the bathroom. I am glad Dallas behaved himself. He has never been officially housebroken.

Today we are a little sad as Grandpa Guy left. He was to leave our Airport at 6 AM and fly to Chicago and then on to Seattle. He was supposed to arrive in Seattle at 11:15 AM their time. At 3 PM this afternoon Mr. M called and told me he was in Minneapolis and about to leave to go to Las Vegas. Needless to say I was a little shocked. Apparently the plane coming in to our airport hit a bird and so they had to cancel his flight. This is still Thanksgiving weekend as far as travel goes. The airline (American) worked hard to cobble him an itinerary back to Seattle. Their first idea was to send him to NY and then on to Chicago and so forth. They finally came up with the following plan. Our airport to Chicago to Minneapolis to Las Vegas to some airport in California (he wasn't sure which one) and then by Alaskan Airline to Seattle Washington. Nothing like a direct route. It will have taken him 24 hours to get from our door to his door. Poor man. He was having quite the adventure. He also informed me that he was eating his first hoagie he had ever eaten in his life there at the airport. The man lives life to the fullest. I hope I am like that when I am 91.
~Mom