Scavenger Hunt

I hadn't been on a scavenger hunt since I was in the high school youth group known as P.F., for "Pilgrim Fellowship", at First Plymouth Congregational UCC, in about 1972. So I was out of practice for my weekend in Lincoln.

The list went something like this:

1. Find something edible in the A concourse of the Denver airport. (50%) Don't go with the McD's!

2. Find a station on the rental car radio playing music to keep me awake on the drive to Lincoln at midnight, but not too incredibly annoying.

3. Find something to swat that really big spider in the bathroom at one a.m.

4. Find and remove creepy things from the refrigerator. Thank heaven my brother had weeded it out earlier.

5. Find Dad in the dining hall of the rehab center among all the silver-haired folks with wheelchairs and walkers. Thank heaven he looked like himself! I was worried that he would appear to have aged ten years from this broken hip ordeal.

6. Find blunt-end infant/child manicure scissors for trimming nose and ear hair.

7. Find the brush for cleaning the electric razor.

8. Find batteries for the Walkman. (Failed)

9. Find envelope containing the money that was in Dad's pocket when he fell, strategically hidden by a caring neighbor in order to pay that neighbor's son for mowing the yard.

10. Find mock turtlenecks my sister ordered from Lands End and had shipped to Dad when he was with Mom in Minnesota at Mayo. (Only found 50%)

11. Find the green-striped pair of drawstring sleep pants. (Failed)

12. Find something to swat more big spiders without making stains on the curtains.

13. Find the kids who have been doing the mowing and negotiate payment.

14. Acquire answers to multiple questions about Dad's eventual return home, and what health and housework services he would have available then.

15. Find someone at Dad's bank to help with a minor, yet nagging, bill payment issue. (60%)

16. Find Dad's across-the-street and next-door neighbors to exchange news. (66.6%)

17. Find a quiet place in the rehab facility. (Next to impossible)

18. Find all the bills and notices of automatic bank drafts in the accumulated sacks of mail.

19. Find way around on all the new one-way streets and construction detours.

20. Find the right staff member to express concerns about Dad's liquid intake, and about his anxieties related to what we will politely call excretory system issues.

21. Find out if Dad's car will start (and if the power window will go up that last half inch). Yes, and (no)

22. Find time to go to La Paz on North Cotner Blvd. for a great $7.75 lunch!

23. Find which item on the extensive menu I want to try this time. (Very difficult)

24. Find the toilet handle bars and booster seat, and the right screwdriver to install them.

25. Find all the canned goods and paper items in the basement to take upstairs. Dad won't be making trips to the basement for a long time!

26. Find out if the dishwasher can handle month-old dirty dishes. (95%)

27. Find a way to stop watching "Father Goose" on late night cable t.v. to get enough sleep. There's never a good time to stop watching Cary Grant!

28. Find out if the bargain breakfast at Hy-Vee is as good as advertised. Bring on those over-easy eggs, sausage patties, and hash browns!

29. Find tennis balls, drawstring sleep pants, and long-sleeved knit shirts to meet Dad's new wardrobe/laundry needs in under fifteen minutes at Target.

30. Find a way to leave without either of us crying.

Scavenger hunt: Priceless, and the chimichanga was very yummy, too!