A scary February dissolved into a potentially terrifying but hopeful March. We brought Rolando home from the rehab facility the last week of February and after a week at home, dad seemed to be recovering into himself. He still moved slow and required a lot of help, but the mind was operating at a higher level than before his hospital stay.

For those of you who haven’t reached the caregiver aspect of being the child of an elderly parent, let me inform you of the numerous hurdles. Long-term insurance, Aetna and short-term care insurance, Medicare, pharmacies, primary physicians as well as the doctors who saw him at the hospital. Anything dealing with elderly health, in this country, is a maze. Are there instructions? Sure, but even those are complicated. You will be visited by people from every aspect of the health care world, and it is very difficult to keep them straight. We had caregivers come and give assessments to Rolando from the hospital, long-term and short-term insurance plus his primary physician. It is hard to keep up with it. Keep records, multiple. Everything from the breakdown of medication to doctor appointments, insurance bills and hospital bills; it will mount up and can become overwhelming.

The third week of February, the doctors feared that this might be the end of Rolando, and he’d never leave the hospital. Hospice became a possibility and that entailed someone from hospice giving him an assessment. By the first week of March, he turned the corner, so when hospice came to evaluate him for his cognitive assessment, he was better. The day hospice came to evaluate was one of his better days; he joked with the nurse, he laughed, flirted a little… he was full Rolando. Crisis averted; he came home, and we settled into a routine. We had two in-house caregivers, and they were terrific. Things were starting to look up for dad.

*****

On February 27, 2024, Shohei Ohtani hit his first home run as a Dodger. It happened in his first at-bat in spring training. It was only spring training, but it still was a big deal. The biggest signing of the offseason was, arguably, the biggest signing of all-time and even though the Dodgers have won at a high rate the last decade, the signing of the Japanese icon brought a different level of excitement to the team. Expectations were extremely high for the Dodgers and only a championship could sate the desire of the fans.

With a lineup of Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and newcomer, Teoscar Hernandez, optimism ran high. Yes, the Dodgers won a World Series in 2020, the Covid year, but, as with strike seasons, there always seems to be an asterisk next to the title. Not for me. I got to celebrate a championship with my dad, in a much-cherished moment that I will never forget. Still, a full season championship and a parade to celebrate would be more than welcome.

Rolando and I had followed Ohtani as he played down the road in Anaheim with the Angels. Usually once a year, we’d make the trek to the land of Disney and try to catch a game between the Angels and Dodgers. I personally saw Ohtani hit three home runs against the Dodgers (I think I’ve seen Mike Trout hit a home run every time I’ve seen him) and I was ready to see him launch one as a Dodger. For those of you not familiar with Anaheim, the baseball stadium does not have the characteristics of the classic Dodger Stadium, however, it is much easier to negotiate when it comes to traffic and parking. Dodger Stadium is a nightmare to get in and out of, and even with all the years’ experience I possess of that stadium, it’s still difficult to get in and out.

Anyway, spring training had begun, and dad and I watched every game on TV as we prepared for the season ahead. His memory lagged and he didn’t keep score of the game the way he had in the previous years. I have numerous notebooks of Rolando’s notations of games played. He took meticulous notes on each and every game; sadly, with his horrific handwriting, it is nearly indecipherable. We will let the anthropologists figure it out.

Still, he kept a keen eye on the game. I knew he was still sharp when he would defend his favorite Dodger (Chris Taylor) when I bad mouthed him. Chris Taylor strikes out WAY too much for my liking and, even though he has been a good Dodger in the past, I’m ready for him to don another uniform. Rolando still kept the faith and as the season approached with the Dodgers opening up the season in Korea for a couple of games, we felt excitement for the new season.

It would be a running joke that Dad always was in the bathroom or napping when Ohtani would hit a home run. Rolando would say, “I can’t wait to see him hit a home run. My first one.” When I, politely, reminded him he’d seen Ohtani hit a home run the day before, he’d joke that he hadn’t been paying attention. Sadly, the truth was that he didn’t remember seeing the home run. It was during this period of time I realized his mind was beginning to fade more than I’d hoped. He could still enjoy watching the Dodgers but day-to-day, he could not keep up with it.

*****

There are certain things I miss about my dad. Now, of course, we all miss loved ones who have passed and the simple things about them. Their smile, their laugh… whatever it might be. But it’s the smallest moments we miss that get us. My dad would quote or reference a Mexican actor or actress from the 30s or 40s and expect me to get the reference. He would call ‘Smart and Final’, ‘Bed, Bath & Beyond’ (or vice versa) and I understood what he meant. If you bit your tongue or your lip when you were chewing your food, he’d always ask how it tasted. The little things that might annoy you as they occur, but you miss the most once they’re gone. He was an endless stream of dad jokes; he would regale countless stories that I’d heard a thousand times; he would pass on knowledge that I didn’t know, and he would surprise with such knowledge until the day he passed. He was a mind. He was a scholar and a teacher. He was Father and a dad. He was a Dodger fan, and he was my best friend. Watching the Dodgers will always be bittersweet for me. But I’ll still cherish it.

*****

And so, it was on to Seoul, Korea for the opening games of the 2024 baseball season. The Dodgers were set to play the San Diego Padres. In the past, the Padres have mostly been a gnat on the hide of the powerful Dodgers but recently, the little brother south of LA have reared their head and become a nasty baseball team in their own right. Led by Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis and Jackson Merrill, the Padres could lay claim to be a better team than the Dodgers but only time and the season would tell. The beginning of a new baseball season is always exciting and the beginning of the 2024 season, would live up to it’s anticipation.

Kevin R. Andrade

This is Part 2 of the series Fernando, Freddie, Rolando and Me to be posted.