A Father’s Moment of Recognition I can still picture it clearly — sitting beside my father in the family room, the TV on in the background, watching my 2.5-year-old son play across the room. My dad and I exchanged a quiet glance and said the same thing at the same moment: “Something isn’t right.” He wasn’t responding when we called his name. He didn’t follow simple commands like “come here.” He seemed mentally “checked out” — present in the room but absent from us. And then t