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Thanks all
We’re praying for all of you and your families as well.Pops made it through Thanksgiving
He couldn’t move much but he did his best and he had the whole family there and it was very sweet. My son, Noah, hung out with his pop-pop all night and made him feel really special.He doesn’t seem like he can hang on much longer so I made sure he knows that we are all ok and that he can let go whenever he is ready.
I also made sure that he knows just how much I am thankful for what he’s done for me. The man made miracles out of nothing. At every single fork in the road, he made the choice that he thought was right for us, regardless of the obsticles. He never took the easy path if it wasn’t right, although he always had a reason to and we would have certainly understood. He worked until he was 76 (He didn’t retire until this past July). He was a welder and worked in a factory with no air conditioning, in a leather outfit, in the middle of summer, and he LOVED it. I begged him to stop, so many times, and he refused because he smiply loved working and staying busy, and he loved welding.
I remember back to when I was 5 or 6 and my dad was a real electronics buff. He’d strip down radios and TV’s and fix them up, just for the heck of it. I would always sit with him and hound the heck out of him and he would never send me away
He knew the importance of letting me hand him the tools even though I didn’t know what any of them were for, he know the importance of explaining to me what a Zenor diode was even though I couldn’t comprehend any of it… he knew that at the end of the day all that mattered to me was that “daddy let me hang out with him”.He’d come home from work every night and pick me up, sit me on his lap and let me tell him all about my day, the same story over and over for 10 years! lol, he listened like he was truly interested, every step of the way.
When my mother took off on us, on my 11th birthday, it crushed him. He never saw it coming. He tried really hard to hide it, but I caught him crying a few times when he thought I was in bed. He started working 7 days per week and doing everything he had to, to make ends meet. He never once made us feel like things were too hard for him, he always told me how worth it I was to him, and he always made time for me after work. Absolutely amazing man.
He was 40 when I was born, so he wasn’t a young father but he managed to get involved in everything that I wanted him to. Little League Baseball, Youngin Football, he taught me how to build go-karts and fix dirtbikes… he took me fishing and taught me to swim… but most of all he taught me that it’s ok to cry, ok to be afraid of some things as long as it doesn’t keep you from chasing your dreams and he taught me that no matter what anyone else thinks about me, what I think about myself is the most important thing in the world.
He fought in the Korean War and was captured, but never talked about it aside from a few details here and there, he felt that it was what he had to do, and like I said earlier, he ALWAYS did what he thought was right.
He would never consider himself a hero… but I hope he knows… he’ll always be my biggest hero.
Father… friend… mentor and teacher, I love him with all of my heart and soul.
Thank you all so much. This is all very reassuring to me.
Right now he is laying in a hospital bed in his living room and he’s surrounded by those that he loves. He’s laughing and joking and having a great time… I now know this is how he’d want it… no doubt about it. He seems so alive… hard to believe it’s coming to an end… but he’s so happy right now. He’s holding Noah (my 16 month old son, his grandson) and Noah is just kissing him over and over and they are laughing together.
This makes me very happy.I’m praying for a painless transition and you have all made me feel like that is a probability
Thanks again!Thank you so much.
All I can ask at this point is that he doesn’t suffer. I was with him last night and he was feeling quite well. They decided not to send him home until this morning though, as Hospice is deliverying his bed this morning (he’ll be in a hospital bed at home now).I asked him last night if he would be up for borrowing my video camera and filming something of himself talking over the next week or so, for Noah when he gets older. He agreed and I think this will be a good thing for Noah. I’ll upload the video and burn it to CD and we’ll keep it forever
Thanks again for all of the encouraging support! We’re also praying for all of you and your families! I know that I am not alone here.
Jay
Thank you. These posts inspire me. Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply to me. I really appreciate the thoughts and prayers. I’m send ours your way as well.
The hardest part for me right now is that my dad seems better today than he has in months. i just sat with him for a while before I came to work today and he… “has it together”.
He’s talking about current affairs. He’s asking questions about recent events with true sincerity. And yet, he has only a week or two left? Plus, he doesn’t have any idea that he only has a week or two left, or that they are stopping all transfusions, etc…
He’ll know today, I am sure, as Hospice is meeting with him around 1pm. I don’t know if they’ll tell him or not, but he knows what Hospice is so he’ll figure it out.
I made him a promise many years ago never to hide anything from him, because my sister hid something from him that almost destroyed him, and I promised never to do that. I have an overwhelming feeling of guilt for not telling him today. I’ll tell him soon if they don’t.
I have one part of me that beleives that one doesn’t really need to know these things… but then another part of me thinks that he might have something to say that he wouldn;t say if he didn’t know the end was right around the corner.
Now I am babbling
Thanks again everyone!
