Life Tests

Life just tries people more than it does others. Fair or unfair, it does, and I feel like I've had my fair share since last May. Seriously when you hear a surgeon say your dad "is very sick -- he may not make it" exactly one year from when I was hospitalized -- not the greatest couple of days.

But it has done something amazing. It brought the family together....All five of my Dads kids (including me) were together today, and it's amazing. It's magic. I hadn't seen my sister, Debbie, in so long that we really were talking decades, couldn't remember if it was late 80's or early 90's.

At least in my head, and from my perspective, I didn't feel any unease. It was like a click from the start. We were all exhausted physically, and emotionally, but we all came together and it felt really, really good. I don't know the words to use to express how it felt, and it was a physical sensation, it was just right.

And that's a testament to my Dad. I think it's safe to say that my Dad is my hero -- my brother Russ' hero, and also my sisters Debbie and Wendy's best friend. It's been a long line of pain through my life. But through it all, good, bad, negative, screaming matches, great road trips, there has been Big Russ. If we needed something (I have too much foolish pride to ask), not even a split-second of doubt -- he'd be there, or take care of it as well as he could.

If we take nothing else from this experience, this hellish experience (especially Monday), it's that my Dad's wry sense of humor and over-the-top personality has seeped into every single one of us. It's just all about the importance of smiling and laughing. Through crisis, lessons abound. Through this I am experiencing some deeper self-realizations.