Morning Routine shaken up

I had begun to look at the news on the laptop. My Dad had been buried in his morning paper and had not acknowledged my presence when I came in for breakfast. But now he was in action and according to my mother, had been listening to the "60 Minutes" story on the Wall Street Meltdown the night before and was worrying about his money again.

He stated he was going down to see.... he didn't remember the Merrill Lynch broker's name... and then go for his walk.

I waited upstairs for my mother and father to talk it over. She calms him down while I seem to only get him more excited when I try to say anything to him that makes sense.

So my Dad is having a brain meltdown as the Fall begins and we are having an economic meltdown. How very cleaver.

He is going down right now and he is driving the car..he says. I wait for him to go outside and then come down and begin getting ready to take him. She will continue to work on him to give up the keys.

When I return my Dad is ready for me to take him down. He's remembered that he has to see Kurt, the investor at Merrill but thats it. I have to show him where I will park and he has parked there thousands of times over. I run to the store to pick up some milk and return quickly to the parking lot and wait. It is only a few minutes and I see him walking with his stooped walk towards the car. He is ready to go home and hopefully will be quiet for a few hours.