Many of you know that this past weekend I went to visit my dad for his 51st birthday. Many of you also know that my dad is quite sick. He was diagnosed with lung cancer a few years back and has been receiving treatments since then. His cancer had spread to his lymph nodes and adrenal gland and, more recently, to his brain. I hadn't seen him since early December 2010, even though we do talk on the phone often enough.
I had been anticipating that this visit would be difficult since his health has taken a turn for the worse over the past couple of months. I was quite anxious about going, and really thought it would just be better and easier to just keep putting this visit off.
Boy I'm glad I went.
Our weekend with my dad was really quite nice. Yeah he's sick, and yeah he slept a lot and couldn't do as much as he would have liked, but that wasn't our focus this time around. His illness was present, and it was a factor, but I didn't feel like it overshadowed our time together. There was a lot of simple joy and peace floating around, a lot of smiles. Some moments I will cherish forever are...
... hearing my dad randomly, and repeatedly, say "Hi Levi/Asher, I love you"
... going to the horse races with my dad, his old regular Saturday afternoon hang out spot, and Asher especially enjoying this experience.
... seeing the pride and love in my dad's face as he introduced his grandsons to people.
... laying on my dad's couch, with Asher beside me, and my dad on the opposite couch, watching TV together. How could I forget Storage Wars?
... my dad waking up from a nap, turning over, looking and smiling at me, before going back to sleep again.
... my dad's birthday on Sunday. It was such a good day - he went to church and enjoyed a little gathering with family and food from his favorite chicken place to celebrate.
... 4 generations in one room - wow, so awesome. I want to remember this blessing forever.
... enjoying quiet moments together, just sitting and talking about nothing and everything.
... my dad joking about his 3-hour nap only being a 15-minute nap. I love his sense of humour.
Thank you to those lovely friends of mine who were lifting me up in prayer while we were gone. I felt your prayers with me each moment of our visit. It meant so much to have support in all of this.
I'm so glad I went. There was peace, there was joy, and there was love.
2 comments:
What a beautiful post. I'm so glad that your visit was better than you were anticipating and that you were able to make some more great memories with your dad! He sounds like a wonderful person:).
WOW! That's how I feel after I read that so I thought I'd post it :) So powerful, especially with all the history between you both. Thanks for sharing that Mandi, I hope you get to see him again soon!
Post a Comment