When Dad was in the hospital he kept asking for a drink.
We got the idea to bring him some mock gin and tonics. Even the nurses were in on it and if we couldn’t be there, we would leave the can and they would bring a cup of ice and make him his drink.
He eventually complained about the fake drink and asked for a real one.
We resisted for awhile but when he was feeling better we brought him real (weak!) gin and tonics — mostly tonic and a wedge of lime. Every afternoon I would show up at skilled nursing with a mini-cooler so I could give him his happy hour drink.
When we were sick and couldn’t get over there he called me once and asked if this was a dry county because no one would bring him a drink.
We knew all the reasons it wasn’t the best idea because he was taking medications and so forth. But also he’s 92, he wanted a drink, and it made him really happy.
This was the little container we re-used to make the drinks.
