Mental Pictures by the Pool Bar

So guys our holiday is over. 

Have I enjoyed it? Of course I have.

Would I do it again? I’m not sure. 

Does Dad know that? I’m not sure!

Should I tell him this could be a first and last. Definitely not!

Instead we enjoy our last day at the pool bar people watching.

I think most of us people watch but there are some people who people watch that have a certain look in their eyes. Those people may have a terminal illness or maybe they are realising they are getting old!

It’s a look that I first noticed in mum when she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. When she thought I wasn’t looking I used to see her smiling as the kids played and I knew she was taking those mental pictures she would need in her darkest days.

Now Dad is not terminal but he is definitely showing signs of age.

After a week of pushing him around in a cheap foldable wheelchair and checking out all the accessible toilets in the resort I am almost positive this could be his last trip abroad.

I am so keen to make sure he takes those mental pictures so that we can enjoy talking about our Fuertaventura holiday when we are in Flamborough or some other seaside resort in England! 

The thing is Dad doesn’t have that look. He doesn’t seem to think he needs to remember this holiday because he thinks we will do this again next year.

 I’m not sure if I should tell him that this could be his last trip abroad. I keep dropping hints about the wonderful hotels in Blackpool but he soon changes the subject.

I sit with him by the pool bar and encourage him to store the people we have been watching in his memory.

There’s the big Irish guy whose had too much sun.

The 20 stone guy from Birmingham who sits at the pool bar all day making the most of the all inclusive snacks and drinks.

The cockney couple who are so much in love they share a sunbed.

The family from Liverpool who join in all those dodgy poolside games.

Not forgetting the little girl who smiles at Dad every time she goes for an ice cream.

In the future we will remember these people and I am making sure I take those mental pictures so that we can share memories together...... somewhere in England that’s not a long car journey and with a bloody disabled toilet that doesn’t need a Radar key!!!!

Meanwhile we will look forward to Christmas and I’ll keep my eyes open for that look that tells me he’s taking those mental pictures.

But I have a feeling that by time I see that look in dad’s eyes I will probably be the one in the wheelchair!