This Man

Replayed, with a few new words added, for the man we call, Dad.

Enjoy.

♥

I would ask him to write them down.
Please, write them down.
You better write them down !! pester-y me would beg, because you know how I forget.
He’d laugh and say ok, OK, one day he will write them alllll down.
Then we would get busy with life and his memories would remain in his head, not on a paper

& randomly, he’d tell me another
& I’d say, DANG, these are GREAT !! Pleaseeeeeee write them down because you KNOW how I forget.
Har. Har. Har.
Ok Ok Ok

Until finally, I told this father of mine, I want no other anything.
No birthday present.
No Christmas present.
No Easter, 4th of July or just because it’s Tuesday.
From now until eternity, the only ONE. THING. I request is to PLEASE write those stories down ’cause he KNOWS how I forget.

Best day ever was when he handed me that yellow legal pad.
On it, in Dad’s one of a kind handwriting …

I call them, Nine Lives.
Times when he probably could have, should have left, but lived to tell the tale.

Like the time he was 8 years old and had strep throat
& his mama came thisclose to calling the priest.
Or the time the brakes went out on a car he was driving in Chicago.
Or those two and a half typhoons.
Or when he almost fell into a fiery mold at the steel mill.
The man has many
& in between his adventures he married an incredible woman.
Together they raised a family of six.
How he lived in a house with four daughters, two sons and one bathroom is the biggest survival of all.

Enter: recently.
When what Dad, sibs and I thought was just a cold turned into pneumonia
and to the ER, he and I trekked
& seeing this man struggle with each inhale/exhale is something that will stay with me for a long while.
This man, who volunteers at a local food pantry.
This man, who goes to church daily and has quite a few appreciative somebodies on his prayer list.
This man, with the energy of a 30 year old, running circles around me most days.
This man, who proudly told the attending physician, the last time I stayed overnight at a hospital was in 2000 !!
This man, who has more stories to tell, please, dear universe …
please

You know, for every day you’re in the hospital, you’ll need 3-5 days to recover, Dad heard me and my been there/done this, rule book
SLOW. DOWN. FOR. A. FEW. YOU. MUST.

uh-huh
ok-ok
I will, I will
he replied.

But I know this STAY HOME biz will be near impossible, given his outgoing nature and old-school ways
and I get it !! I do,
but truth be told, this last go ’round did a number on my brain cells, Dad, and I oooooh soooooo selfishly,
need more stories.

So, sit tight, Fella.

Read your books and do that 1000 piece puzzle and watch your shows and don’t worry about the groceries
and give your body time to heal.
Go against every helper, goer, gotta see, gotta be !! vibe in your 92 year old body and be still, just for a bit
& when life returns to normal, you’re back to feeling 100% and you vocalize the details of your battle with pneumonia,
I will BIG HUG nag you to please, please, pleasy-please
write it down
’cause you KNOW how I forget.

♥

Happy 92, Dad.

🙂

Nicey