Recently, my mother wrote a book about my great uncle and my
grandfather. I wanted to share some of my experiences living with my
Great Uncle Dean. As well as share a link to my Mother’s book.
I wanted to reflect on the summer of 2017 for a little bit. It was a
fantastic time for Brooke and me. After I graduated from BYU, we were
actually kicked out of our student housing in Provo. My job in San
Jose was starting in September, so Brooke and I needed to figure out
what we were going to do for 3 months. My great uncle Dean lived in
Bountiful, so we got in touch with him and his daughter Becky to see
if we could stay with Dean. They were delighted to have us stay.
Brooke had recently worked in a mini-retirement home of sorts and
helped older people who couldn’t live by themselves. It was a match
made in heaven.
At
this time, I was preparing for the CPA exam. I set my computer up in
the basement, and there I studied continually for essentially the
whole 3 month period. I only took breaks during the day to make lunch
and dinner for the three of us or sometimes to go to the grocery
store.
Uncle
Dean often had trouble moving around. He really liked to go to the
grocery store, but often a trip would take more than an hour. I was
prepared for this. In the car I would read the CPA exam textbooks,
and in the store I would bring flashcards with me. Any free minute I
had was filled with flashcards. Our favorite store was a place we
called Market Square (I think it is labeled the NPS store; I don’t
know where our name for it came from). There we would buy all sorts
of expired or nearly expired food for bargain prices. I really
haven’t seen too many stores like it. I don’t know if you can
sell expired goods like that in California, where I am from. We also
would get lots of produce for super cheap. For example, the Costco
salad mixes could be bought for a dollar or less at Market Square (I
think it's like 4 times that much at Costco). You would just need to
use the food up pretty quick. It was a great chance for me to try out
some new ingredients in the kitchen. It was a fun time. On the nights
I didn’t cook, we went out to dinner. I think Uncle Dean also
really liked to go out to eat. He had lots of restaurants he liked.
Some of them his daughter Becky, was understandably not a fan of. So
I felt especially good when we were able to go somewhere he wasn’t
able to go to normally (Like Chuck-A-Rama).
Somehow,
even though Uncle Dean was barely able to walk on his own (with a
walker, granted), he was able to live on his own with an association
of help from different people. For example, the neighbor Chris would
help with the yard work. Uncle Dean’s cousin Eldean would help
clean the house. Eldean was quite a character. She was an avid Trump
supporter, and would just gobble up propaganda from PragerU and other
extreme right wing sources. Sometimes I would try to tell her these
crazy conspiracies were simply not true, but she wouldn’t have it.
Even Uncle Dean, a lifelong republican, didn’t like Donald Trump.
In fact, Uncle Dean was such a republican, I recall once a driver was
driving a little fast/recklessly down the street and Uncle Dean said,
“must be a democrat.”
There
were also nurses that would come from Midas Creek. They would help
Uncle Dean put on his compression socks in the morning. It was quite
an ordeal. His diabetes caused his legs to swell up quite a bit. They
would only come 3 times a week or so, so the other times, Brooke
would help.
And
of course there was Becky. Becky would come at least once a day,
often twice or more. Every night she would help put Uncle Dean to
bed. Putting Uncle Dean to bed was also a bit of a task. To end the
day, his compression socks had to be removed. I think it was a little
easier removing them versus putting them on, but not that much. Uncle
Dean’s nighttime pills also made him sleepy, so it was important
that he not spend too much time in his chair getting ready.
Once
or twice, Brooke and I helped put Uncle Dean to bed. On one of those
nights, Uncle Dean slid out of his chair and was on the floor. We had
to hoist him up somehow and get him into bed. Uncle Dean was a few
inches taller than me, and quite a few pounds heavier, so this was
quite a task. Becky, Brooke, and I struggled a bit. On one of the
occasions, we had to get John to help, Becky’s husband. John easily
picked Uncle Dean up and put him into his bed. The other time, Nick
and his girlfriend came and the 5 of us all worked together to get
him into bed.
Prior
to our arrival, Becky would bring food to Uncle Dean everyday as
well. Becky was also often the voice of reason. Sometimes Uncle Dean
would want to buy all sorts of crazy stuff. For example, he wanted to
buy medical scrubs as pants. I think I may have discouraged him a
little, but when we got back, Becky told us he had way too many pants
already. So we helped bring them back for a refund.
Ultimately,
our time in Bountiful was one of the most fun periods of our married
life. I passed three sections of my CPA exam with scores in the mid
to high 90s. We bonded with my Great Uncle and Becky and her family.
