Remembering My Dad

Up until he was 60, Dad was a runner.  And a vegetarian.  He served in the military for 20 years, and when he retired, he went back to his hometown out in the Mid-West and worked teaching the underemployed job skills that would help them get a better job. 

When lung disease finally began to take it's terrible toll on him, he had to stop running.  He still ate healthy, with the exception of the occasional chocolate milk shake from McDonalds, and a Peanut Buster Parfait from Dairy Queen on his birthday.

The steroids that he was on to help him breathe bulked him up.  He was barrell chested for the last three years of his life, and he would sit on his knees on the floor, leaning over the coffee table to help him breathe.  The doctors call it tri-poding.  For the last year of his life, he was unable to sit up, and unable to walk on his own.  He had to use a scooter to get around his own house, and couldn't use the bathroom or take a shower on his own.

Dad also smoked two packs of cigarettes a day from the time he was 19 until the doctors put him on oxygen at the age of 61.  I think between the cigarettes and the chemicals he was exposed to in Vietnam, he had a potent chemical combination in his body, swirling around and doing damage to his lungs.

Dad has been gone for 6 years now.  His lungs were so bad that he had been prohibited to have general anesthesia during surgery.  This is the day when his appendix ruptured.  He was rushed to the hospital, and left with no choice, the doctors had to put him under general anesthesia and operate. 

He lasted a while after the surgery.  He died the last weekend in April.  They weren't easy weeks for him, but we did get a chance to go out and see him one last time, and spend time with him and say our good-byes.

So, why am I bringing this up, you ask?

Good Question.

Lent began yesterday.  Christians around the world are fasting for the next 40 days.

If you smoke, I encourage you to give it up for Lent.  Not for the full 40 days - I do understand how hard that would be.

BUT- you could start with one of two days a week.  Fridays and Wednesdays.  OR, you could not smoke from sunrise to sunset.  Or, you could use a nicotine patch. 

Please.  If you smoke, consider what I'm asking.  I lost my father when I was 40 years old.  He missed the graduation of his oldest grandson.  He is missing the incredible FRC Robotics competitions that his middle grandson is involved with.  (And my father would have been passionate about that.)  He's missed his granddaughters' passion for photography beginning to come to fruition. 

Give yourself a present for Easter this year.  The gift of some quality years of life.