What can I say? I'm delighted. And humbled. And blushing.
I first saw Kat's blog after seeing comments on mutually visited blogs and, after snooping through some older posts, saw this one about her dad. Commonalities stood out to me - she was about my age (a little younger according to her profile), her dad is a year younger than mine, and she is also dealing with some very painful, harsh medical issues with him.
For some reason, I feel a bond with people who also have older parents: I had times as a kid where I would've given anything to have parents who were more with it. You know in kindergarten, when you boast "my dad can beat up your dad"? Yeah. I was more like "my brother can beat up your dad". (Although in his day, my dad probably could've kicked serious ass. He was a logger, which is one of the most dangerous jobs - if you didn't already know that.) I was defensive to people who assumed that my parents were actually my grandparents. So when I find someone else who shares that, I naturally gravitate. Reading Kat's beautiful, heartfelt posts about her father (who has Alzheimer's) helped me see that I am not alone in dealing with the pain of illness. My dad was recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer, which is not one of the prettier cancers to have, especially when you have 3 stents placed in your heart two weeks before the big C diagnosis. After that, it was all I could do to get dressed and go to work. I didn't know how to deal with it. I mean, my dad is Old Faithful. You could set your watch to his schedule. He was, I thought, invincible.
I learned the hard way that he is not. I can say that he is doing pretty well right now. His heart is stronger, so his energy level is better...and he tolerates the chemo very well for a crusty 77 (oops, 78 now) year old man. My opinion is that the crust helps keep him safe ;).
So Kat, thanks a million...in more ways than one. I don't think I've ever let on to her in comments why I initially started
2 comments:
Aww. That was so sweet. And thanks for the lovely words. I really appreciate it.
Do you know how many times I was asked if my dad was my grandpa when I was growing up? Wow. Too many. But it honestly didn't bother me because I knew my dad could still kick their dad's a$$. HA! My dad was quite the toughie too. No logger, but he did play semi-pro football and the Packers even wanted him to try-out (but he had just joined the army).
Anyway, I hear ya on the cancer front too. My mom has been fighting a 3 year battle with terminal cancer. It has been rough but she is doing v well. Now my MIL was just diagnosed with breast cancer and my FIL is showing signs of Alzheimer's. It is so crazy.
ANYWAY, I love your blog, and you seriously are a must see blog! :)
Congrats, hon!
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