Uncle Carl and Uncle Glen
Uncle Carl's gone senile. Aunt Mary reported he was half dead from malnutrition, and not taking his medications. Carl's daughter took on the responsibility of his care, and moved him up to Oregon. Carl is fretful, forgetful, and wants to go home. We are all concerned about Carl.
Uncle Glen came up from [Los Angeles] and stopped by his brother Ken's house, saying he wanted to take Carl back to Oklahoma. "For good?" "No, just for a visit." Since Carl's only got a few brain cells left, it's now or never! And Oklahoma is wonderful. Ken and I visited last year. Our family owns a herd of cows! We saw [Big Momma's] white house in Ada, and tried to find the old farm, but that dirt road was just plain missing. Maybe someone merged the land into their acreage, and plowed it under.
So anyway, a few weeks ago Glen showed up at Ken's, en route to get Carl for this visit Oklahoma. That idea sounded "okay" to us, if you'll excuse the pun. (When they switched to 2-letter state abbreviations, I kid you not, the state motto was: "Oklahoma is... OK.") But we wondered if Carl's daughter would let Glen take him. What if Carl refused to return? He's peevish about his situation, and has already tried to escape.
Today, I asked Papa whatever happened with that.
Well, first, Glen's wife Jeannie came up for a few days, and gave Glen cash, credit cards, and a few changes of clothes. Apparently Glen just took off on this venture without much forethought. Then, once Glen got to Oregon he had trouble finding the retirement home where Carl's living.
"By this time, Glen was getting bad," Papa said.
"Getting bad? What do you mean, getting bad?"
"You know, his bipolar..."
Somehow, Glen wound up in Utah, where he was tossed in the loonie bin (!!!) until his wife could come pick him up! We assume he's back in LA now, in a more familiar institution, where he'll eventually regain his composure and be released.
I know it's sad, and kind of tragic, but I can't stop laughing at the bizarre picture of the crazy brother taking the senile brother back to Oklahoma for a visit!