For love part 4

 “Hi, are we ready to go then?” 

 “Yep, don’t wait up for me Dad.”

  I was looking over my shoulder as we headed 
for the door.

“How long you plan to be out, Sweat Pea?” 
Dad asked with a sort of accusing tone to his 
voice I'd come to know so well, like he was 
challenging me and letting me know that 
anything past midnight would be the wrong 
answer.  

 “Oh probably at least past midnight, so you 
know you need your sleep, Daddy, don't wait 
up.”

  I turned to Steve: “Dad’s health hasn’t been 
the best lately,” I explained.  

“My health is just fine,” Dad replied.  “Don’t 
you worry about me; I plan to be here a long 
time yet, Sweet pea.  Now about when you plan to come home tonight."


 I grabbed Steve’s arm, steering him to the 
front door quickly.  The sooner we left the 
better.  I had a twinge of guilt on my way to the 
door so I turned back and gave Dad a big hug 
and kiss before I followed Steve outside.


“I’m pretty sure your dad might not like me 
very much,” Steve said when we were safely 
inside his car.  
I just laughed and assured him it wasn’t personal, it 
was the fact that I told Dad he had chosen the 
Army as a career instead of an accounting job 
or something.  Steve looked at me, an 
expression of confusion crossing his face. 

 “I know it’s a contradiction, my dad being a lifer and all.  But he thinks I should have a husband, one day, with a stable job, and we will live in one place, the little house, picket 
fence, a few kids and all.   Don’t get me wrong, Dad loves the Army, but he knows it was hard for  me, all the moving and such, I know he means well.”
  

I didn’t tell Steve that my dad was sure my mom had left him because he had chosen a career in the Army.

  He and my mom used to fight often and one of my earliest memories was of them fighting, about my dad being in the 
military and gone for so many weeks at a time. 

One night, when I was 5, my mom said she was going to the store to get some milk and we haven’t seen her since. 

 I think she had a boyfriend because once when we went to the park, my mom introduced me to  a guy she told me to call, “Uncle Charlie.”  That seemed like so many, many years ago now. 

Since I haven’t known Steve very long I decided this was information he didn’t need to know; yet. 

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For love Part 3

I was excited tonight, this was our first date and I was looking forward to showing Steve off to all my high school friends at the party.  I 
refused to allow my dad's disapproval of dating Steve to ruin my excitement.



“Get the door Daddy,” I yelled from my room 
again.  

“Do I have to?”   He was kidding, I think. He 
often used that tone when he was not happy 
with one of my choices though.


 “Yes, Daddy, please, for me?”  I begged him.

 “I’m going, I’m going.”  Opening the door, he 
looked this handsome young man up and down 
with a critical eye as I peeked around the 
corner, from my bedroom door.  

 “She will be down in a minute, Son, take a seat 
on the sofa.”
I hurriedly did a last check on my hair and makeup, then almost flew down the stairs, 
hoping Dad and Steve didn’t have to have much 
of a conversation.  I had no idea where a 
lengthy chat might lead, especially in my dad’s case.

  I knew Dad could ask some uncomfortable questions, making them sound almost like an interrogation sometimes.

 He has done that in the past with the few dates I ever did manage to land. 


“Hi Steve,”  I said, giving him a peck on the cheek.


Steve was smiling and by the look on his face, I knew I'd picked the right outfit for the evening. 

He seemed very pleased when he saw me.

For Love

“You will not marry a military lifer if I can help 
it.”  My father was yelling from the living room 
because I had told him I have a date this 
evening with Steve, the guy I met just one 
week ago at our home barbecue, the backyard 
party my father decided to put on for some of 
the military  people from the local Reserve 
Center in Penn Yan, New York, where we live.  

The weather forecast, the day of the barbecue, had called for sunny skies, warm temperatures and little did I know, 
with a mixture of love in the air.

  The last thing I had planned on was meeting an Army man 
that I’d soon become infatuated with. 
I was used to seeing young men come and go at 
our home most of my life, so this was nothing 
new.   

They all apparently liked my dad a lot because they’d come over to see him and talk with him almost daily. 
 But I must admit, that sunny afternoon of the barbecue 
though, I could not ever remember seeing so 
many young men all at once at our home.  

In fact, Our backyard was so full of handsome 
young military men that day, my friend Angie 
remarked: “It looks like a smorgasbord of men. 
Something that every young woman dreams 
of.” 


I do remember looking for a place to sit down once 
my plate was full of food.  



 Suddenly I found myself looking at one of the handsomest guys I had ever laid eyes on ,  and he was sitting by himself.   He didn't notice me because he appeared to be pretty engrossed in the food on his plate.  


I decided to work up my nerve and go sit down 

across from him.  He barely looked up, but for a brief moment he did smile, say hi but then immediately began 

attacking his food again.

 “I guess the chef here knows how to 
barbecue.” 


 He stopped chewing and looked up, with an 
almost perplexed look on his face like he had 
no idea what I was talking about.   I smiled, 
drew a breath and decided to begin again. 



“I mean you seem to be very pleased with the 
food, meaning  the chef must be a pretty good 
at barbecuing,” I said.  

He nodded his head now as if he understood I was referring to the food on his plate.  I couldn't help but notice his body.  He was slender but muscular.  I wondered how he stayed looking this good by eating so much.

“Oh, well, it’s just that I really do love a good 
backyard barbecue.  I suppose I look like I 
haven’t eaten in a long time, kind of making a 
pig of myself I guess.”  

I suddenly felt embarrassed that he thought might be comparing him to a pig. I felt a flush creep across my cheeks.

Now almost stammering:  “Oh, I just meant,” He cut me off before I could finish my lame apology. 


“Hey, its fine, I know I was pretty wrapped up 
in my plate here.”  He reached out his hand: 
“Hi, I’m Steve and I’m pleased to meet you.”  I 
took his extended hand . 

“I’m Lacey Montgomery and I’m very pleased 
to meet you too,” I said in return. 


He paused for a moment as if he was deep in thought.   “Montgomery as in:"


“Yes as in the same last name as the DI who 
lives here; I’m his daughter,” I finished the sentence for him.

“So this is;” 


Yes,” I interrupted again, “this is where I 
live.” 

Now  his face seemed to turn a light shade of 
pink, like he was embarrassed with this new 
found knowledge.  


That’s how Steve and I first met, with me 
practically calling him a pig and so I’m always 
amazed he even liked me at all after that analogy. 

But he did like me, in fact he liked me enough 
to even accept an invitation to my 18th birthday 
party my best friend Angie was throwing for me 
the next weekend.  

Here I was now, the weekend of my 18th birthday party, me looking in the mirror, checking my choice of attire and my dad embarrassing the hell out of me by yelling up the stairs like some crazy person.  

Free

I am offering a free book as a thank you to all my fans and for those who have not read this first copy yet.

I have a few left as they seem popular.  I pay the shipping and you can specify how you want it signed.  Please place your request before December 30th and before all are gone.  I'd love to hear from you.

Email:  bobbirant@about.me 


I love to give free gifts to people.  I think you will enjoy this story.  

A love story

When Lacey met Steve she felt an
instant attraction to him and she couldn’t get his
boyish smile out of her head. His rugged good
looks and gentle nature made her heart melt. If
it wasn’t love at first sight it sure was as close
to it as anyone could ever come and the best
part was that Steve felt the same way.

But there was a catch, her father dislikes
Steve, not personally, but what he stands for,
even though Lacey's dad and Steve are a lot
alike. 

Steve wants the Army to be his career.
Her dad was a career Army man too, but her
dad wants her to marry Jason, a boring
accountant, a nerd in Lacey’s eyes. Jason is
stable, not a career military man like Steve.

Lacey’s father wants more for her than the rag
tag moving around and never knowing if Steve
will come home from a combat zone.
Meantime Lacey’s dad seems to be feeling not
well and Lacey cannot figure it out, until one
day, her dad is rushed to the hospital and
diagnosed with kidney failure. On top of all
this, Steve hasn’t written to Lacey from
Afghanistan, where he was sent to be an
interpreter, so now she’s feeling sad over her
dad’s illness and sad over the idea that Steve may have fallen out of love with her.

Since her dad's illness she has strongly been considering
the possibility that her father was right and
maybe Jason, also a good man, will make a
better husband. Lacey wants to go to college
and study music but she is not sure her dad will
live long enough to ever see her marry if she
finishes college first.

Will Lacey ever hear from Steve, or will she
marry Jason, whom she does not love, just to
please her dying father?

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Ahhhhhhhh Nursing Home Corporations

In order to be competitive, nursing homes offering a Culture Change environment, will find the list for people who actually want to live there will be long. Most people will flock to a facility that resembles their home, not some hospital.

It’s true, it will be hard for the elderly to maybe have to move, but moving to a nursing home that treats them right is a plus, not a bust. Certainly I have seen nursing homes forcing residents move anyway, for the nursing home’s convenience, so it is not as if residents have not been forced to move before, it is just that, maybe now, the moves will be for the better, for the improvement of their welfare and not at the whim of nursing home staff.

Elder care has become increasingly more competitive, like any other business. Baby Boomers are not willing, like the generation before them that was willing to simply conform and settle for rules and regulations of the ancient facilities. It’s time for a change and perhaps Medicare will be the catalyst to usher in some of the new changes.

While working in a nursing home I already knew the MDS, the instrument nursing homes and Medicare use to be able to justify the Medicare reimbursement money, has been redesigned to supposedly implement big changes. The changes are to, hopefully, make the MDS less generalized, sort of one size fits all mentally, to reflect much more individuality for each resident.

This is supposed to reflect a single resident’s personal challenges and needs much more than generic criteria that have been used, in my opinion, far too long to deliver good services to our nation’s elderly population.

Maybe the new Medicare cut backs will eventually help keep more nursing homes honest.

For far too long many facilities have, in my opinion, used Medicare to cheat the federal government out of tax monies, simply because the nursing home was able to slap a nursing home sign on their doors. Maybe this will also force facilities to have to train their nurse aides better to be able to deliver better services, since nurse aides have always been the primary care givers there. It is a popular belief, in traditional nursing homes, that treating people like humans with rights and with dignity, must be more expensive, not true.

If money were the only answer, then residents in a nursing home would be treated like kings and queens and be living in a palace. I have seen the money Medicare and residents pump into nursing homes, money that lines the pockets of a CEO or a COO and buys corporate mansions complete with swimming pools and expensive vacations. I have seen it even buying huge meeting halls and fabulous buildings called corporate offices. But I have not seen it buying a wonderful final chapter in the lives of the older people who have made the corporate head’s life wonderful.

Are the corporate heads the only ones entitled to a nice life, a life provided for them by riding the backs of older American’s miseries?

I have also seen the big money that buys the heads of pharmaceutical companies the same luxuries. It's not uncommon for a pharmacy charging older people, especially in a nursing home, $100 per pill simply because it is in the pharmacy’s best interest to prolong a life that pays $100 per pill and residents are forced to use the in-house pharmacy.

These are older people, who as a captive audience, have to sign agreements to buy medicine, while in the nursing home, from the company pharmacy because it is simply their policy under the guise that it is for the old person’s own good to do so, or that a corporation has their best interest at heart.

Traditional nursing homes are places where misery and despair come home to roost like chickens in early evening on a farm. People go to war these days and are called heroes, yet once they too are old, all of that will be forgotten until a few shovels of dirt cover their coffins and if they are lucky, when old, they will be able to live life out in their own homes, but probably not.

I look around a traditional nursing home and I see an old man slumped in a chair, a man whose parents probably once loved him and nurtured him.  A man who probably loved his children and nurtured them, who now needs some assistance with everyday tasks that we, in our younger years, take for granted.

This must be said

I think the anonymous blogger in the news who ranted about school lunches is commendable. However, just like when I attended Social Work classes, the news is about kids,what they eat and so on.In college, young students said:"I want to help kids, that's so worthwhile."  Really? It seems in our society kids are a more worthwhile endeavor. 
 When I was in public school we were served gooey french toast, fatty macaroni and cheese, hot dogs until they came out our ears.  Cake and ice cream for desserts, pizza, and pizza burgers.  Were we fat?  Nope. We got off our asses and went outside, rode our bikes and mom and dad had to yell at us to come in when it was dark.  We exercised it off, no video games,no sitting in front of a TV shoveling chips and soda pop into our faces.


So this brings me to how we worry about our kid's meals at school.  Blame everyone but the parents allowing those fat kids to sit and sit.  But when it comes to the elderly,we can shove mom or dad,grandma or grandpa into impersonal nursing homes because 'someone else must care for them.' 


I've written a book concerning this subject,but,alas,the elderly just don't concern much of society or TV talk show hosts.  Shame on America.  But for those who do care, I am listing some great literature concerning alternatives to nursing home care.  I sincerely hope people will check this information out and once again,give a damn about the elderly.  We have become one ungrateful nation to treat our elderly loved ones so shamefully.




 • Assisted Living Care Guide: http://assistedlivingtoday.com/p/assisted-living/

• Memory Care Guide: http://assistedlivingtoday.com/p/memory-care/
• Nursing Home Guide: http://assistedlivingtoday.com/p/nursing-homes/
• Care Home Guide: http://assistedlivingtoday.com/p/care-homes/

• Independent Living Guide: http://assistedlivingtoday.com/p/independent-living/

The aim with these guides is to help people faced with deciding what type of care to choose for a loved one make the best possible decision. 

Growing old and counting

Soon I will be giving a presentation at the college where I graduated as an undergrad.  I'm looking forward to it and I hope to help students, soon to be graduating, understand what they are up against,should they work with the elderly.


I hope I do well and I hope I can get a grassroots movement going to bring Culture Change to every nursing home in America.  That is my aim.

Is Ignorance So Bliss?

You know, there was a time, before we relied on the Internet, that most people, when they wanted to read a book or find out about a book,they would actually pick up that book and read it.  We didn't have to rely on places like Goodreads to tell us if we should be reading that damned book or novel.


I even used to belong to something called The Book of the Month Club, long before NetFlix and long before I had to reduce myself to reading, on book sites, opinions of strangers to sway my thinking.  Yes, back then we did our own thinking, wasn't that a novel idea?   Probably, today,it isn't just a novel idea, it's hard to imagine,thinking for one's self. Wow!


So you will have to excuse me if I goff at the idea of not reading anything that may look interesting.  People do not read any more, they do not allow a book to spur their imaginations,because, frankly, no one has much imagination left anymore. More's the pity for it too.  Imagine if a whole generation had actually read history, they might have understood 'no interest mortgages' to be double speak for 'balloon payments.'   Wow!


I have a great vampire series yet I wrack my brain about how to advertise the series,especially in a day and age when few people read.  A day and age when ignorance is worn like a badge, a cloak, is admired in our entertainers (The Cable Guy?)  he was someone my friends and I used to talk about as being the poor ignorant soul who didn't get it, he still don't git it, but then, neither do many other people.  So how do you 'git er done' by being clueless?