Thanksgiving

Well, this has been one of the most difficult Thanksgiving's I've ever had. Last night, Thanksgiving eve, while I was working on a home project, (installing a new phone line into the office--Nettie's old room) my older brother, Sterling, called me up from Lakeview hospital in Bountiful and told me that mom had to be admitted to the emergency room because her heart rate had sped up and could not be regulated, and that he needed me down there to help give her a blessing.

Mom's problems were the culmination of the tremendous stresses she's been going thru taking care of dad, whose health is deteriorating rapidly. Sterling and I talked to mom for a little while after we gave her the blessing, and she is truly fearful that dad will pass away shortly. Sterling and I had to console her, yet we had to firmly bring up the idea that it is time to put dad in a care facility these last days/months that he will be around.

After Ster and I left the hospital, I went over to mom and dad's house to check up on dad. My older sister, Maureen, was there taking care of dad and trying to get things set up for the Thanksgiving meal today. When I got there dad was a wreck. He was just, there. He has become a shell of his former self, and seeing him lying in his bed all crippled up was excruciatingly difficult to bare. I decided that it would be best to stay the night with dad and try to help him out however I could. I called Jodi and received her blessing, and thus ensued one of the hardest night's of my life without a shadow of a doubt.

I never thought that the day would come where I had to be the caregiver to my dad. I had to help him relieve himself, take his medications, change his clothes, and make sure that he didn't fall down the stairs. I slept the better part of three hours, intermittently, through the night because dad required so much attention. It was a night, I admit, that I cried because this is not what Dad should be going thru, yet he is. I left mom and Dads' house around six thirty this morning and drove home, where physically, emotionally, and spiritually I was exhausted and went to bed.

Jodi called up her parents and told them that we wouldn't be having Thanksgiving dinner at our house today, to which they were agreeable to, and we scheduled to get together tomorrow. I am thankful that mom was released from the hospital this morning, thankful that I have a loving family, thankful that I'm home from Kuwait, enjoy good health, and that my dad is the greatest dad a guy could ask for. Pretty damned awesome if you ask me.

I hope everyone else had a great day today.

Random Thoughts

Drill weekend this weekend, my first since returning back from Kuwait in September. It was good to be back with the 'guys' from my shop. I have a great bunch of guys in my shop, and if it were not for their dedication, my job out there wouldn't be fun at all. Juan Vasquez is my main go to guy, a real equalizer when I get all worked up over something stupid. There's also Brian Scholle, Steve Voigt, Rick Ebert, Eduardo Robles, Brian Teel, and Brent Nielson. Ed and Teel deployed with me to Kuwait.


One thing that did suck today was the flu vaccination. We use to get injections, but now those of us who are under 49 and 1/2 get the vaccine via a nasal mist. Yum. Nothing like inhaling flu serum and having it drain down the back of your throat. I'm a bonafide wimp when it comes to needles, but compared to the mist I'll take the needle anyday. I remember basic training when we would go through the cattle shoot for our vaccinations and they were administered by air injection. The airmen who gave the injections were in training themselves and I think some of them were sado-masochistic henchmen who loved to see the recruits writhe in abject pain and suffering.

November is now here. Where in the world has this year gone? Wow. I love November because this is Thanksgiving time,and that is my favorite holiday time of the year. And fishing should be kicking butt should I ever get out.