My dad just recently had liver surgery. While he was recovering in the hospital, my mom and I bought him a stuffed Siamese cat at the hospital gift shop to remind him of our real Siamese cat Ricky. Ricky is old, disagreeable, walks with a limp, chases dogs/ neighbor kids away from our house, stands guard at the lamp post and is in general a bit hateful. Only WE love him. And, HE only loves my dad. When anyone holds him he whips his tail around in irritation, screams, has angry eyes, will box you with his de-clawed paws or will bite you. But, not with my dad. He loves my dad. It just happened one day- he hopped up on the bed, cuddled with my dad and fell asleep. They've been BFF ever since. I have frequently walked in my parents room to see my dad asleep with his arm around Ricky.
My mom and I gift wrapped the stuffed Ricky and wrote a card to my dad from the real Ricky telling him to come home soon. My mom thought he would be annoyed that she spent money on a stuffed cat. But, he was actually really, really happy that she got it because he misses Ricky. It was funny to watch him open that bag up and pull out the cat. He immediately had this big smile on his face and started petting the cat and talking to it like it was Ricky. Then, he decided that it should be placed on top of his IV cart so that he could wheel it around with him. When it wasn't on the IV cart, he would be holding or petting it. After he was discharged a week and a half later, he gave his stuffed cat away to a Nigerian woman who worked at the hospital to give to her kids. I love my dad.
2 comments:
I can't stop laughing about stuffed Ricky. I like Ricky on the pole too. =)
It was pretty funny Steph. Once, really late at night he asked my mom to grab Ricky off the pole so that he could pet him. I don't know if it was the pain medication that made him love that stuffed cat so much- but it was pretty endearing. I was kind of sad when he gave stuffed Ricky away.
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