Daily Struggles of an 81-Year-Old and His Daughter — Part 2

That Saga Continues

For those that are not familiar, and as a refresher, my 81-year-old father moved in with us on his own. I started to journal our daily struggles of living with an old, stubborn, narrow-minded, negative man to cope with the stress. Journaling our mishaps, conversations, and disagreements has helped me be more tolerant and patient. Besides, he is my Dad and I love him. Therefore, here’s part 2.

While I am still dealing with the dead plant situation, there have been other issues developing. (You can read about it here). My father is dead set on his ways and no one knows more than him (so he thinks). Here is another conversation, though funny, it’s annoying as well. Bless his heart.

My son does not like plain cranberry juice but prefers the cran-apple mix. You know, the one with cranberry and apple combined, but it is a juice. Some of the brands label it as Cran-Apple Juice Cocktail. Frankly, we had not realized it until Dad pointed it out. However, my 81-year-old father is adamant it is not juice, and here’s how that conversation went.

My Dad’s Concern

“Did you know your son is drinking alcohol thinking it’s a juice?” dad told me.

“That surprises me. He does not drink alcohol because they give him migraines. What juice is it?” I asked.

“That Cran-Apple Cocktail shit he drinks. That is not juice. They use it in bars to mix drinks,” he responded.

“Yes dad, just like bars use orange juice, tomato juice, pineapple juice, and whatever other juice to mix with drinks. But that doesn’t make it an alcoholic drink until it is mixed.” I responded.

“Bah, you are just like him. You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he told me and walked out of the kitchen.

I just ignored the comment. I was not about to argue with an 81-year-old. If anything, I found it kind of funny.

The next morning, he approached my son in the kitchen. Here’s the conversation that followed:

“Why are you drinking that? That’s a cocktail. Do you know what a cocktail is? It’s an alcoholic beverage,” he told my son.

“No grandpa, it’s not an alcoholic beverage,” my son responded.

“Yes, it is. When you go to a bar, you ask for a cocktail. That is what it says on the bottle’s label,” dad replied.

My son grabbed the bottle and while pointing to the ingredients said to dad, “Look grandpa, there’s no alcohol in this.”

“Bah! You don’t know! You are just like your mother!” dad responded.

“Grandpa, see for yourself,” replied my son while handing over the bottle.

Dad did not bother to grab the bottle to look at the ingredients. He strolled away to his bedroom mumbling to himself.

He Purchased Cranberry Juice for my Son

A few weeks later, I took Dad to the supermarket with me. While in the juice aisle, he grabbed a bottle of cranberry juice and asked me, “Is this the juice my grandson likes?”

“No dad, he prefers the cran-apple one,” I replied while I searched for it.

The supermarket did not have it available, so I opted not to take any. Meanwhile, Dad said, “this is the one I like,” and placed the 100% cranberry juice in the shopping cart. Mind you, I didn’t know dad disliked cranberry juice, and he was buying it for my son. All along I thought it was for himself.

Fast forward a week later, my dad goes into my son’s bedroom and tells him, “Hey you have not even touched the 100% cranberry juice I bought you.”

“Grandpa, I told you I don’t like cranberry juice alone,” my son responded.

“But the one I bought is better for you,” dad continued.

“Grandpa, thank you, but I don’t like it!” my son replied, obviously annoyed.

“No, but you like that no good alcoholic shit you buy,” dad responded.

Though my son finds it funny the nagging just got out of hand. My son is like me and just responded, “Grandpa, I don’t want to hear it right now. Can you please leave my room?” And he ended the conversation.

Dad stopped nagging him and went to his room.

Ya Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

Dad is very antiquated and doesn’t understand that a word can have more than one meaning. I don’t think he’ll ever get it. I also know he never admits to being wrong. So it is best to just let him be — although sometimes it annoys us to the core. We just find it funny now.

It really must be driving him crazy to think his grandson is an alcoholic.