putting things into perspective

Tuesday night I got a call that put things into perspective for me. My dad's in the hospital. He's suffered two mini strokes. The artery on the left side of his neck is majorly blocked. He'll need surgery, we're just not sure how soon because his brain needs to heal a bit before they can chance it. Top that with some heart irregularities and you have quite the problem.

Luckily, he's in a good hospital, the nurses have been wonderful and the surgeon consulting w/ him has been on the ball.

All this has had me pausing and looking at my life. So many times we stress about the little things. Worry over a bad review, a few extra inches around the middle, a bad hair day. When something like this happens everything just slides away and all that really matters is spending time with the people you love. The laundry piling up, the errands that need to be taken care, none of it matters. It's all just stuff.

Yesterday, when I was at the hospital watching my once very strong father lay in that bed completely at the mercy of the nurses and doctors, it made me realize that I don't spend enough time with family. It was a wake-up call for me. The first thing that popped into my head was, 'I'm not ready for them to be old'. I know it sounds selfish, but I just sort of figured they'd always be around. Our parents are our rock. We lean on them, no matter how old we get. They're always there to make us feel better, always there to offer a shoulder or a hug. We take that for granted. At least I did.

Anyway, if you have a second, please send my dad some healing thoughts. It's been stressful for all of us and we just want dad better. We want to see him in his easy chair, drinking his coffee, and bitching about the government. In other words, back to normal.

Thanks!