My Dad

My dad "went away" for a while last week. A wrong combination of medications prescribed by the doctor very nearly cost him his life. Our family closed in ranks around him and stayed at his side as long as we possibly could, providing him the comfort of holding his hand, or wiping his brow with a cool cloth.

When I am faced with a difficult life lesson, I try to take away some new knowledge about myself. One of these lessons was that I realized that no matter how old you are, you cannot prepare yourself to lose a parent. There is so much more living to do, and to have gone without Perry and Ella remembering him would be so sad. He still brings so much joy to our family.

For the first 2 days, he was in a coma like state,where he was hallucinating, seeing and conversing with people from his past. He was re-living his life right before our eyes....It gave us a unique understanding of dad's innermost feelings. What came through was a man who loved life, making people happy, and who agonized over difficult decisions he had to make. His love of laughter was right up there. If you didn't know better, you would have sworn he was wide awake and talking to you. But when you looked at his eyes, nothing was there, no glimpse of recognition. For more that 36 hours, his entire body shook, he ran a fever, and he didn't sleep. David came up from the cape, and I think that he somehow knew Dave was there because he actually became somewhat peaceful when he held his hand. Dad has always adored David, his beautiful firstborn son.
When dad finally came back to us, he was overjoyed to see all of us there. Unfortunately, Ian and Sophia had gone home and dad couldn't remember them having been there. He also couldn't remember Marc or Rob visiting either, but he was thankful that they were there. I'm sure he felt their love and caring.
So, what else did I take away? I need to tell my parents that I love them and that each hold a special place in my heart. I need to thank them for giving so generously of their time to their grandchildren and great grandchildren. I took away the knowledge that when I am on my deathbed and reliving my life, that it be full of laughter, love and family and good friends.
I want my brothers and sisters-in-law to know that I love them and only want love in return. I want to see my dad in the kitchen at Chris and Doe's house with a roaring fire in the pizza oven. And I want to see Perry and Ella run over to their great grandparents and say I love you nana and nonu!

Work Hard Dad and Come Home!!