As I had expected, Kate never wished me a happy birthday yesterday. I showed her cards from Jesse and her boys as well as a Facebook post of Kevin’s. He had posted a picture of the two of us that was taken in March when we visited former piano teacher. He added this nice message. “Happy Birthday today and Father’s Day on Sunday to my dad and my earthly hero.” Kate enjoyed seeing the cards and Kevin’s post, but she never mentioned my birthday. I suspect she never quite realized it was my birthday. Whatever the reason, it says something about her present condition and makes me sad.
Last night we went to dinner at Hathaway’s. When we got up to leave, we saw Cal and Lois Thomas sitting in a nearby booth. They asked us to sit down for a minute, and we did. We have known them since my early days on the faculty at UT. Cal was in the political science department. Their daughter, a friend of Kevin’s, died in April. We visited her in the hospital the afternoon before she died. The next day we ran into them at lunch which was just a few hours after their daughter had died. We also attended the memorial service later that week. We spoke with both Lois and Cal at that time.
That sets the stage for last night’s slip. As we prepared to leave, Kate said, Say hello, to your daughter.” There was a moment of silence. I then said that Polly had passed away. Kate showed surprise and said, “I didn’t know.” Lois then told her she had died in April. Lois is a former nurse who spent her career mostly as executive director of the Tennessee Nurses Association. I feel sure that she understood about Kate. Nonetheless, I intend to call her today to explain.
