Ceiling Fans and Such

Alan just looked at the suitcase and smiled. He knew this was vacation week and we were all headed to Lake George. We all piled into the car for the three hour ride that we made every year at this time, looking forward to a week of sun, laughter, shopping and family. Several years earlier, I had taken over the driving. Alan’s memory, at this time, was beginning to slip. He had been diagnosed with Early Parkinsons at 49, but was still mobile at 53. The dementia was diagnosed at 52 and those signs were more clear. He would get lost easily and confused even easier.

Lake George was our vacation destination for more than 30 years now. We had invited my brother, Peter, and his family to spend a week with us and now they were regulars at the same resort. We had side by side beach suites that lay halfway between the lake and the pool. As you checked out each year, they asked if you would be returning next year and schedule you in for the same week next summer.

Alan was having more frequent hallucinations and had a 6” purple puppy that lived on his shoulder and insisted that there was a man living in the refrigerator. There was also a giant green dragon named Frederick that lived in the corner of our living room. Luckily, we left him at home when we went on vacation.

Days were spent playing in the lake or the pool, laying in the sun, a fun game of croquet, card games and trivia.  Evenings were spent walking into the village for ice cream and  shopping, buying t-shirts and shot glasses.  Dinner out was quite common and there was always drinks at King Neptunes or Fire and Ice.

Day trips to the top of Prospect Mountain for the view was always a favorite. You could see the entire southern part of the lake and if the sky was clear, you could see for miles.  Sometimes you could see a storm approaching long before it hit the lake. The view was always quite stunning.

Parasailing, boating or jet skis were always an optional pastime. That was expensive so it didn’t happen all that often. When it did, the cameras came out and there was lots of laughs.  To take a little pressure off me, everyone else would take turns “watching” Alan. He had wandered off more than once and it took a little panic and several minutes to find him.

Our accommodation was a lovely two bedroom suite with a full bath and kitchen. The living room was fairly large, had a sofa for guests, a TV and air conditioning. Each bedroom had a ceiling fan to keep the air moving. All in all, it was a very nice place to relax and enjoy.

There were seven of us playing Trivial Pursuit at our place one night when Alan came out of the bedroom rubbing his head and said the ceiling fan had hit him in the head. We all laughed.

When the laughter died down a little, I asked, “What were you doing standing on the bed?”

He looked at little dazed and replied, “I wasn’t. It just hit me in the head.”

I walked into the bedroom and laughed out loud so hard, I couldn’t catch my breath.

I walked back into the living room with a fan blade in my hand and through raucous laughter said, “The ceiling fan really did hit him in the head.”  One of the blades had come lose while it was spinning and fell just when Alan was walking by.

Years later, Alan is gone now, but we still go to Lake George every summer and we still joke about him standing on the bed and ceiling fans falling. We all remember and miss Alan but it always make us all laugh and remember him with love.  Quite a bittersweet memory.