Fallen

About 3 weeks ago my father fell for the 3rd time in one day. After a few days of radiation therapy he started becoming dizzy. His first few tumbles were mild. My mother with some neighborly assistance was able to get him back on his feet. His last fall was when he was sitting out on the back patio. Lately, he had often sat here so he could bathe in the sunlight to replenish his vitamin D and to look out on the expanse of his property. There are pictures of my father in his younger days taking a nap out on the lawn. He would just find a patch of grass and lay down on a hot summer day. There is a picture in my baby book of him laying on the grass with me resting my head on his legs and our black dachshund next to me. I remember that day despite being but 5 years old. He would do that from time to time when I was that young, and I always wondered why he did it. Yet looking at that picture its as if the those well groomed blades of grass where whispering to him, and he in his turn was dreaming of the labors that lawn had known. Once a thick forest, then a pasture for a milk cow, then a full blown garden with fruit trees and corn, and lastly a well manicured lawn. Whispering. Maybe my father was still listening to the lawn as he sat there for the last time. When he fell for the third time he couldn't get up, which reminded me of that awful commercial with the old lady who had "fallen and can't get up". No humor to this situation. My mother called me and I was out the door. He was laying on the cold patio stones with his head on the cushion that was used for the patio furniture. The ambulance came and I instantly knew this was a landmark that would be crossed for the last time.