After spending a week in the hospital for treatment of yet another hiccup in an already-difficult health care regime, my father came home yesterday. Like so many grown children of my generation, I strive to remain involved despite the fact that I live far away. We call daily, and we struggle to divine the meaning of the words he and my mother choose to share with us. But there's only so much that can be shared over a cable.
It's not easy being sick. Nor is it easy being an immediate family member of someone who is.
As we look forward to all the promise that a new year holds, I hope we take the time to appreciate the meaning of the phrase, "As long as you have your health." We take it for granted when we have it, then curse its loss after the fact. That's human nature, I guess.
If only we appreciated it while we had it. Then perhaps we'd try harder to hold onto it for just a little bit longer. And we'd prepare better for the inevitable day when the phone rings and everything changes. I wish I were better at this. Maybe in 2006 I'll learn the secret.
Welcome home, Dad. Be well.
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Research: Three Months in the Mediterranean, 1943 (24)
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13 comments:
I'm glad your Dad is home, Carmi. I know it must be hard not being there for him. I will be sure to keep him - and you - in my prayers.
Michele sent me, tonight.
Yes indeed Catmi...I have been wishing everyone a Happy Healkthy New Year..and sometimes I put HEALTHY first! You are so right I think...but it is Human Nature...and we do take this for granted...So, having said that and also wanting to say I am glad your Dad is better and at home...
I wish you and yours A VERY VERY HEALTHY HAPPY NEW YEAR! May 2006 be a wonderful year for you all.
Glad to hear that your dad is home.
As someone who lost both parents after struggles with cancer, I absolutely agree with you about how hard it can be as the family member of someone dealing with health issues. It's never easy, but we have to cope on a day to day basis. What other choice do we have?
You and your family have my best wishes for a very happy and healthy 2006.
Sorry to hear about your Dad. I've just begun dealing with illness with my parents and it's hard to watch. We went to my parents home this year at Christmas--and it was a blessed time.
Good news that your Dad is home. I can relate, my mother is very ill as well.
if you learn the secret, share with the rest of us. it is so easy to be wrapped in in life and forget to really appreciate what we have. glad he is home...wishing you a happy and healthy new year, kontan jou!
wishing your dad and your entire family good health and an excellent 2006.
Happy New Year Carmi, to you and your beautiful family.
I'm pleased to have 'met' you :-)
Here's to 2006!
cq
Amen to that! Glad your dad is home! Here's wishing you and your family a Very Happy New Year!
Glad to hear your dad is home Carmi. Prayers for good health in 2006 to you all.
You've shared wise words here. I come home tonight from my uncle's funeral - a man who was given two years to live in 1999 and survived instead until this past Thursday. For a while he took to heart the motto "Seize the Day" (He's never one that would remember the original Latin phrase!) and then he returned to his old bitter ways. It always made me sad to think that here was a man that ought to know better. That ought to know to appreciate the gift of time.
Seize the day. It's not how much life you have, it's how you live it.
have a great new year~
I don't believe that anyone can prepare to deal with the ill health of a family member. My mother in law died in 2004 and my brother in law died in 2005, and while the deaths were not complete surprises, there is no way to really prepare for them. I wish you the best in 2006.
"The secret of health for both body and mind is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly" Buddha
The ancestor to every action is a thought.
Peace
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