I am not sure what to think of this past weekend. I think it opened my heart to a few of the blessings that I may have been taking for granted.
Friday started easy enough. The kids got home from school early, so we decide to take them to the movie (by the way, four kids in the theatre is hard!) When we got home I noticed a couple of missed calls from my mom. I finally got a hold of her and realized that my dad was not doing well. He had come home from the hospital earlier that day from a pretty routine surgery. He was getting pretty sick, so the doctor wanted him to come back to check a few things out. Not good, but not bad--yet. Saturday night, after making two more batches of salsa, Chris and I got a baby sitter so we could go down and visit him. On the way down, my mom calls, "Hurry, they are taking him in for surgery NOW!!! " Aghh!!! The surgery went well--if emergency surgery can ever go well. He has a nasty infection and in imbalance of good versus bad bacteria...blah blah blah...(medical stuff I do not understand, talk to me in terms of financials--I am fine, but medical terms---AHHHH!). The next day he spent in the ICU, but now he is in a regular room, and he is doing much better. He is even bossing his nurses around.
What I learned? I am not OK seeing my dad sick like that. My dad is a strong man, he is always working on something. He is not one to take time off for anything. He is the one that is there to help with any of my crazy (and I have crazy) projects. He has helped my little family move several times! He is the one that helped put in our sprinkling system. The point is: I need my dad. I need my dad to tell me I am dreamer, but then push me to keep dreaming. I need my dad to teach my kids how to plant a real garden. I need my dad to tease my kids. I need my dad to talk to Chris about his big career plans, and help him feel like they are possible. I need my dad to remind me how to be humble and proud all in the same moment. I need my dad for all of these things, and so many more.
