life is precious

the phone rang this morning at 7:45am and i knew something was wrong, it was my sister, who said my dad wasn't doing very well and that the nursing home called to say, "you better come see your dad"... i am thankful that eric & i stopped by to see him on friday but stayed only briefly since there was an outbreak of the flu and they had just put him down... i was able to say i love you and am so thankful for that... my sister said they didn't know what was wrong but he wasn't eating, his speech was slurred, and it could be anything from nothing to advance stages of alheizmer's... by 10:00am, i called my mom and she said she spoke w/my sister - they were taking my dad to the ER cus now he couldn't see and they thought he had a stroke... all i could think about was that this could be it, this was the moment i was dreading and there was nothing i could do cus i was here and he was there...

i tried to keep as busy as possible but its hard when you know something is wrong and you're just waiting for the phone to ring... after lunch, my mom called to say they ran a bunch of tests and confirmed he did NOT have a stroke but a combo of the flu, being dehydrated, and his meds... talk about a sigh of relief, i about cried... my dad is going to be okay, for now anyway...

nothing like a scare regarding a parent to make you realize how precious life is and how life can be too short... if you never say i love you, start saying it because you never know what's going to happen... if you do say it, say it more often... enjoy your time w/parents, siblings, children, friends, and coworkers... and remember: do the things you love and laugh like there's no tomorrow... :o)

happy thursday...