SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hey, and welcome to Boomers on the Edge. Some guys in their 60s who still think they're 60. Your host, Kat and Ron. And this week's guest host, my brother, Randy. Let's get started. You know, the story we're gonna tell is going to uh probably potentially affect all of us because eventually everything starts to go, the brain in other pieces. And my grandfather, when he uh he started to get older, a couple things happened that I would report back to Ken and were both uh uplifting for us. Yes, as well as somewhat depressing, and so I don't want to uh this story is not being told to make fun of my grandfather, so to speak, but it is amusing.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

It's kind of like an end-of-life story.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

It is an end-of-life story. Anyway, where do I start? So when my grandmother died, we're at the funeral, and Ken was actually witnessed this scene. Yeah, you know, picture yourself being in front of the casket. He was there in front of the casket, and he's saying, you know, people are coming up, you know, oh it's so sad. I'm not gonna name my grandparents, but they said, uh, she's waiting for you. She's waiting for you in heaven. And his first reaction was, I hope she can wait a while. And so Ken and I thought that was just fantastic. That's pretty good. Okay because I got things to do. Okay. So we we were encouraged by that from a personal standpoint. Some time passed by, he was started going to the senior citizens center. Dances, Halloween parties, Halloween parties. To be real honest with you, he he kind of acted like he was making up for lost time potentially. At Christmas, you know how family's over, and then everybody's gonna leave, and they're kind of standing in the living room as everybody's putting their coats on to leave. And so Grandpa was standing there, and everybody, oh, you know, you have a good time, yeah, yeah. My mother's standing about six feet away from me, and I don't know why he seemed to like to share these stories with me in particular, opposed to the other family members. Maybe because you were more vibrant and full of more vigor and film. My my mom was kind of giving me some dirty looks because she knew he he liked to talk to me about his antics at the senior citizens center. So he says to me, 'cause he was like a senior player. He became a player. That's what happened to him in about 86 at this point. I was looking pretty old, even like 10 years or before that.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

I knew his grandma.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

He said So he says, Hey. I says, Grandpa, go, thanks for coming over at Christmas. Yeah, yeah. He goes, Hey, I want to tell you something. I'm like, What's that? He goes, says, You know, I went to the senior citizens uh center the other day. And I'm like, Yeah. He goes, uh they had some dancing, dancing with the ladies, and I'm like, really? He goes, Yeah. He says, so uh I was dancing, you know, kind of up close and so forth. He goes, she put her leg in between my legs, kind of, kind of rubbing me a little bit. And I'm like, what? He goes, Yeah, and it went at half mass. Proud of it. He was proud of it, and I was proud to tell Ken that story.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

Yeah, and the filter was probably kind of going away a little bit. The filter wasn't working.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Yes. That's part of the point here. Is that he was, you know, cognitive. I don't know, you know, he's related to me, so God knows where we're all going because he was proud, you know, half mad. My mother was giving me dirty looks like it was all my fault. But to Ken's point, I think he was starting to kind of lose some mental stuff. But what's interesting is certain other parts were still trying to, you know, you know alive. You know how they say perk up women will accuse men of where their brains are. I'm starting to think there could be some truth. So then eventually, yeah, he started kind of wandering off. He particularly liked to go to a particular car dealer, uh, which we won't name for copyright reasons. He he liked to always go to the car dealer. So he when one specific car dealer. One specific car dealer, which we won't name, but he would disappear, and then when they found him, he'd always be trying to get to that car dealer. I don't know what the deal was, but it was starting to become clear that you know, mentally it was all kind of going a little bit. Sometimes what would happen is he would think he was in the car or he'd think he left the car somewhere, and then it it wouldn't be where he thought it was, or it would it would be at his house and he's wandering the neighborhood or something looking for it. So he was always trying to take his car to the car dealers. That was very important to him. So it became clear, and I think I reported back even then to Ken probably that I don't know, he's I think he's starting to lose it mentally.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

Yeah, because your short-term memory goes first and he wasn't remembering like where his car was.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

On one of his occasions, uh, he was found wandering, and particularly in another city nearby, which I won't name. So they had to take him to the hospital. So they take him to the hospital and they're checking him out, and he got caught a couple times trying to break out and two guys had to tackle him in the hallway, and he's like asking, Well, where are you going? He's going to the car dealer again. He's had to get to the car dealer. So things continue to get worse and worse. So then eventually he's in the home one or in the hospital one day. Uh my mother and my aunt are there, and he they're checking on him. He's in the bed in the hospital room, and they're like talking about him like he's not there.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Now, is he just in a hospital or was he in a home at this point?

SPEAKER_01 5:59

I think it was a home. Was it a home? Yeah, it was a home. I went there. You went there, or was a home? Okay, okay, thank you. So he was in the home. So what happened was well, they turned around and he had he had He was more than half mass. He was m he was full mass. Exactly. And so, oh my god. And he was taking care of business. He was and and and he he mom and my aunt like were a gas, like, aha. And so they walk out of the room and they go over and they talk to the nurse, and the nurse says, What? Like, what's the problem? They're like, He's over there, you know, at full mass. And they said, Well, that's pretty pretty common at uh at this age. Pretty much most men, according to the nurse there, like get that get dementia, just know how to manage it. Yeah, that's the last thing to go. They're very proud of that. And so called Ken, this Ron calls me, yeah, tells me about this.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

And he also called me about it.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

I did. And he was and and in a weird way, Ron was kind of had a little like hat, like was happy to report this. I was proud of him. Extremely happy. Why were you happy? It still works. Because because I as way as as it was put to me, the comment only, uh was that you were really happy to learn that that was the last thing to go. When everything else is gone in your brain, at least you still have to do that. Maybe that is where your brain is. Maybe Mr. Happy is still alive in the world.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Ronnie, Ronnie told me, he goes, yeah, he goes, everything, everything physically goes except that one one area of the network works. I'll be happy if that's it. Still works, still works. So that's good. He said it's good to know we have good genetics.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

We get good genetics, it still works.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

So would you let them out in the woods when you walk them out into the woods? Give them some Kleenexes.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

That goes with, I'll just finish there. That I've told my brother before that when I get that bad, yes, okay, that they should just walk me out into the woods, and then, you know, if I if I get back, I get back. But if you know, apparently that will be the last thing that will be I won't be hunting with a gun anymore. I'll have one thing in my hand, apparently.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

The gun.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

The ultimate gun. So so that's our story. I guess it's a not a negative totally to the future.

SPEAKER_02 8:33

You know, it's gonna happen to all of us.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

I it could something. Oh wow. You know, we're gonna go down to go downhill at some point. So that's it, the spanking monkey story. Thanks. Hey, thanks for joining us here on Boomers on the Edge. We hope you'll join us again. And until then, have a great time. Thank you.