today when i got home i set our clocks back.

yesterday we got down to Fayetteville as moms was taking pops for some tests.

day before yesterday J’s mother put her father on the phone and his speech was badly slurred. incoherent. I was going down solo for homecoming for the day but I suggested to J she come and we make it a weekend to see what was up.

for the past month he hadn’t been himself, tired, quiet, no appetite. Then the past two weeks he was forgetful, not finishing sentences. not remembering points he was making.

I went to meet my people on campus and J stayed at her folks place to get the word. we feared it was the dreaded “A” disease that attacks us later in life.

I saw a lot of people and it had been a few years since I had been. time was good to some and kicked others in the ass. a few ghosts from relationships past were trying to haunt me. i got a call from J a while later. they said her pops had suffered a stroke. when we got to fayetteville before he left for the hospital he seemed exhausted, and tried to talk but only mumbled labored breaths.

When I got to the hospital, his condition deteriorated considerably. he couldn’t move his right side at all and we didn’t know if he really could understand the situation. we stayed with him a while last night and this morning. We tried to lift his spirits. I talked to him about the World Series and other trivial stuff. I know there was a lot of frustration on his part from people repeatedly asking him questions like a horrible game of charades. the clot in his brain has made him a prisoner.

things are going to be different in his life from here on out. we’re not sure what the future holds, but we’re praying for him.