Old School

My dad doesn't have a cell phone.  My dad doesn't have an answering machine.  My dad will call but will not speak on an answering machine or voice mail.  My dad shows up spontaneously.  My dad is positive that all manner of illnesses are caused by going outside with your hair wet, not wearing socks, or catching a chill.  My dad does not believe in the Internet.

In order to talk to my dad you have to call his home phone number while he is inside the house.  Recently Lucy was in the hospital for Croup.  When I called his home phone at 8:00 p.m. he was home and answered the phone.  I told him about Lucy and that we would most likely be home the next day.  The next morning I called to give him an update on Lucy.  He wasn't home.  He lives a two hour drive away from our house.

Later that morning I looked at my phone and realized I had missed a call from a number I didn't recognize but they did not leave a voice mail.  I called the number and it was the grocery store by my house.  I started to suspect that my father was in town to check on his granddaughter.

When I turned the corner to my neighborhood I wondered if my dad had left a note to let me know he was in town and how long it might be before he came back by our house to see if we were home.  When I pulled into the driveway I saw this.

Even though I had never seen this before I knew that my dad had left it and was in town.  This is my dad's version of leaving a note to let me know he is in town.

About 10 minutes after getting home from the hospital he pulled up in front of our house.  His old school method of not calling ahead and not carrying a phone or a piece of paper and pencil seems to work out just fine.

As he was talking to Lucy in the living room he asked her about the recent snow we had.  He asked her if she got cold.  She said "Yes, and I got really wet!  My feet were soaked!"  He looked over at me and nodded a nod I have seen before.  Then he said, "No wonder you were in the hospital."

If my dad had the Internet, I would direct him to the CDC website which explains how Influenza is transmitted through the cough and sputum of others; not by making snowmen in the snow.  But he doesn't.  So I didn't.