I Love My Dad
I wish everyone could meet and know my dad. I wish all the angry and bitter people all over the world who have terrible or non existent relationships with their father's could meet mine so they'd have hope that there are great men in the world.
He's a wonderful man. He's considerate and hard-working and respectful, generous and compassionate and humorous. I could not ask for a better father in my life.
He's been my number one hero and best friend my whole life. The memories and adventures are limitless.
In April 2015, 5 days after his 45th birthday, I thought I was going to loose him. He had a strange infection, and when he was given antibiotics to fight it...it resulted in kidney failure because he didn't know he was deathly allergic to sulfur drugs.
Saturday, April 18th, 2015 was one of the worst nights of my life. I visited him for a couple minutes right away when I discovered he was re admitted to the hospital after only being home for less than 12 hours probably. I krept into the room like I was walking on eggshells. The door had been almost entirely shut except for a crack. All the lights in the room were off and he was in a dead sleep. (He always refused to sleep unless all the lights were off, just like me.)
I sat in a chair directly beside the hospital bed and held his hand while rubbing his knuckles in an awkward attempt to wake him up.
I knew he was seriously ill when he didn't stir or even move a muscle. He's one of those people that has an immediate jumpy reaction if you happen to startle him awake. It was probably a full minute that I sat there rubbing his knuckles, growing more anxious and desperate because he was totally unresponsive before he finally responded and slowly opened his eyes.
I had never, ever seen my dad like that in my life. So weak and half dead. That's why I was freaking out so much.
Weeks and months afterwards we talked abouts it many times. He said that as he opened his eyes he could see that I was on the verge of a total breakdown. I remember fighting back the sobs. He managed to give me a weak smirk and whispered an "I'm OK," even though I'm sure he knew he wasn't fooling anyone.
We might have said less than 6 or 7 sentences the couple minutes I was there. Right before I left my dad turned to my ex in the doorway and said, "careful on the way home...precious cargo."
I later found out after he said that as a cue to leave, dad said he saw my lip start trembling. Well, duh, after saying that. Dad said he wanted to force me to leave because he couldn't stand seeing me cry.
You have no idea how ecstatic and relieved I was when we drove out to one of our favorite areas the next town over on April 29th, 9 days after he was released from the hospital for good. We went for a little walk on a trail in the woods, and on our way back he got down on his hands and knees and thumped on the ground covered in dead pine needles rapidly with his palms, immitating the sound of a pheasant taking off.
That's just the way he is, and recognizing his behavior made me so happy to see him pretty much entirely himself again in such a short time. As a man fond of hunting, dad loves playing around with any kind of bird calls or other animal calls. (If you're calling in a deer, we call it the "grunting tube" here.) He even has a crow call...that scares the shit out of everybody.
I guess my point behind this story is that to always treasure the time with people you love and enjoy it while you can. I looked up to and practically idolized my dad because I loved and adored him so much growing up that I never really believed/considered that my dad could possibly become deathly ill or loose the fight and slip into the next life. The warrior-strong, healthy man I've always known who's always outdoors when he's not working or sleeping.
I'm praying that my dad will not pass away for a very long time. Until then, I hope for many more adventures to come. 💕👍😆🙆
He's a wonderful man. He's considerate and hard-working and respectful, generous and compassionate and humorous. I could not ask for a better father in my life.
He's been my number one hero and best friend my whole life. The memories and adventures are limitless.
In April 2015, 5 days after his 45th birthday, I thought I was going to loose him. He had a strange infection, and when he was given antibiotics to fight it...it resulted in kidney failure because he didn't know he was deathly allergic to sulfur drugs.
Saturday, April 18th, 2015 was one of the worst nights of my life. I visited him for a couple minutes right away when I discovered he was re admitted to the hospital after only being home for less than 12 hours probably. I krept into the room like I was walking on eggshells. The door had been almost entirely shut except for a crack. All the lights in the room were off and he was in a dead sleep. (He always refused to sleep unless all the lights were off, just like me.)
I sat in a chair directly beside the hospital bed and held his hand while rubbing his knuckles in an awkward attempt to wake him up.
I knew he was seriously ill when he didn't stir or even move a muscle. He's one of those people that has an immediate jumpy reaction if you happen to startle him awake. It was probably a full minute that I sat there rubbing his knuckles, growing more anxious and desperate because he was totally unresponsive before he finally responded and slowly opened his eyes.
I had never, ever seen my dad like that in my life. So weak and half dead. That's why I was freaking out so much.
Weeks and months afterwards we talked abouts it many times. He said that as he opened his eyes he could see that I was on the verge of a total breakdown. I remember fighting back the sobs. He managed to give me a weak smirk and whispered an "I'm OK," even though I'm sure he knew he wasn't fooling anyone.
We might have said less than 6 or 7 sentences the couple minutes I was there. Right before I left my dad turned to my ex in the doorway and said, "careful on the way home...precious cargo."
I later found out after he said that as a cue to leave, dad said he saw my lip start trembling. Well, duh, after saying that. Dad said he wanted to force me to leave because he couldn't stand seeing me cry.
You have no idea how ecstatic and relieved I was when we drove out to one of our favorite areas the next town over on April 29th, 9 days after he was released from the hospital for good. We went for a little walk on a trail in the woods, and on our way back he got down on his hands and knees and thumped on the ground covered in dead pine needles rapidly with his palms, immitating the sound of a pheasant taking off.
That's just the way he is, and recognizing his behavior made me so happy to see him pretty much entirely himself again in such a short time. As a man fond of hunting, dad loves playing around with any kind of bird calls or other animal calls. (If you're calling in a deer, we call it the "grunting tube" here.) He even has a crow call...that scares the shit out of everybody.
I guess my point behind this story is that to always treasure the time with people you love and enjoy it while you can. I looked up to and practically idolized my dad because I loved and adored him so much growing up that I never really believed/considered that my dad could possibly become deathly ill or loose the fight and slip into the next life. The warrior-strong, healthy man I've always known who's always outdoors when he's not working or sleeping.
I'm praying that my dad will not pass away for a very long time. Until then, I hope for many more adventures to come. 💕👍😆🙆
26-30, F
