Trauma

According to Websters Dictionary the word traumatic or trauma is defined as:
An emotional experience, or shock, which has a lasting psychic effect. Some examples of a trauma or traumatic experience might be an automobile accident, a life threatening disease, losing a home in a fire, or worse yet losing a loved one.

Trauma or traumatic defined by Pop:
Losing ones crank flash light.

Once again we had trauma in our household last evening. I noticed Pop roaming from room to room, which usually means he has lost something. Soon he came into the office where my husband and I were at work at our computers. Tapping me on the shoulder and asked, "Have you seen my flash light?"

As you will recall from a previous blog, my dad does not operate after dark in the conventional manner using electricity. He uses his crank flash light. He brushes his teeth by crank flash light, he looks into he pantry for his evening snack by crank flash light and I'm sure if he needs to potty in the middle of the night he does that by crank flash light as well. So you see, without it he is operating virtually blind. Trauma!

I have learned that when he comes to me it is my cue that he has looked in the same places at least a dozen times and the trauma level is beginning to rise. As I join him in the search I see that from his bathroom there is a very slight glimmer of light coming out from around the door frame. I opened the door, turned on the wall switch so I could see and found him beaming his tiny battery operated flash light which is attached to his key chain. I guess in his mind this flash light is his fall back. Flashing tiny swaths of light in and around the room I see him in desperate search.

Satisfied that the cranker is not in the bathroom I move on from room to room. I check the normal places like on top of counters, end tables, chairs, floor. No flash light in the more obvious places so I check in the pantry, in the refrigerator, in the garbage can. No flash light.

About the time that I am getting ready to hang up the search for the night and encourage him that we'll find it in the morning I made one last look in the living room. Seeing his jacket hanging on the hat tree I checked inside his pockets and ... THERE IT IS! Mystery solved yet another time. Handing it to my dad he is overwhelmed with gratitude. "Oh, thank you, thank you," he says!

Soon I hear the whirrrrr, whirrrr, whirr of his flash light as he cranks it in preparation for his evening routine before he turns in for the night. I am satisfied knowing that he can now brush his teeth in peace, sleep peacefully and potty peacefully in the middle of the night. Another traumatic event nipped in the bud.