Andy called me this morning to remind me about Jonah’s glaucoma appointment with Dr. S.
I’d totally forgotten about it so it’s a good thing he did call. E and J brought Jonah up and I met them all at the office. We always wait in the hallway because the waiting room is full of mostly 60-90 year olds, and Jonah could take every one of them down if we didn’t stop him. Bruce Banner turned into the Hulk; Jonah turns into the Tasmanian Devil.
Wikipedia describes Taz as a dim-witted omnivore with a notoriously short temper and little patience. He will eat anything and everything, with an appetite that seems to know no bounds. He is best known for his speech consisting mostly of grunts, growls and rasps, and his ability to spin and bite through just about anything.
Yeah, that sounds a little like Boo.
He was all ramped up today when I first got there, and I’d already stashed my new glasses in the car, so I was literally going in blind. Luckily he was lovey, and though he answered “no” when I asked if he wanted to sing a song, eventually he capitulated and took turns singing lines of Fa Fa and Keep it Together with me.
He wanted to touch and knock at the pictures hanging on the wall. Quiet hands, Jonah, we told him.
He sat patiently, for the most part. Then he’d get up, walk in a circle, and sit down again,
J is holding both of Jonah’s hands and rocking back and forth with him, telling Jonah silliness that Jonah loves to repeat…we had to wait for a little while and Jonah was getting impatient.
When the nurse tested his vision, he held up the little black plastic thingee that covers one eye and read what he could. He’s fine when he can use his right eye, but his left seems much harder for him. He gets frustrated and tries to cheat. When redirected he becomes angry, maybe throwing the plastic thingee or hitting the nearest person. But today he just gave a half-hearted swat into the air and allowed the doc to examine him.
“Okay, buddy, sit on your knees,” says the doctor. Jonah just sits there. J and E try to help explain it to Jonah, who then rises until he’s standing on the chair. Finally J and E have to help Jonah into a kneeling sit so Jonah can scootch himself up and into the eye machine, miraculously cooperative of bright pins of light, strange machinery, a doctor telling you to look this-way-then-that-way, eye drops, and a gadget that touches your eyeball and take its pressure.
Amazing.
M & I took tomorrow off work to travel downstate and see another Guster show; we’re staying overnight, then M will drop me off at Andy’s on the way back. After our visit with Boo I’ll hitch a ride back to Albany with my mom.
Sounds like a sweet plan. I think the amount of times I’ve seen the Grateful Dead and the amount of times I’ve seen Guster must be about the same now. Something like 18 each, maybe. I wonder if I’m the only person who was first a Deadhead and then a Gusterrhoid.
The thing is, every show is different – every show a re-energizing. I’m excited to see them. And Boo.
(He’s kind of re-energizing too).
