Don't Grow Old

Tonight I am feeling everyone of my 49+ years! For the last 2 days I have been doing "honey-do's" for my dad and even sucked my husband into them.

Let me explain. My dad is a widower and he's 70 years old. My mom died of M.S. 2 years ago. He has been lonely for her, but done pretty well on his own. He even traveled alot.

That changed in March. On his way back from Texas, he had a heart attack in Gallup, New Mexico! We had quite a time getting him home, but when we did, he seemed okay. Then about 2 weeks later, he came down with pnuemonia! He ended up in the hospital here in Idaho Falls. Ever since then he has been completely drained of energy, and has to have oxygen. Anyways, there have been a ton of things not getting done, and it is driving him nuts.

I finally realized that because I am the only daughter and only one of two that live by him, that I needed to get on the ball and take care of some of this. So yesterday I took him to Lowes to buy some things he needed. Here is our shopping list - Kitchen faucet, screen door, toilet and ceiling fan. Now isn't that a unique list? :] Not what I would call my favorite thing to do with my dad. Anyways, we got the faucet, got the screen door, picked out a toilet but didn't like any of the fans! 52 fans there and none of them were what he wanted! So today my husband, Gene and I went down, picked up the screen door and headed out to the house. We installed the faucet, pruned his trees, and got his lawn mower running. Now my oldest son will install the screen door and my younger son is going to pick up the toilet and install it Wednesday! Then next week we tackle new kitchen carpet!

After we got done at dads, we headed home to finish cutting back my way-overgrown lilac hedge. I have pruned trees, raspberries and lilacs this week. I have shoulder muscles that are screaming at me! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING? DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE ALMOST FIFTY? HIRE A GARDNER!

Here is a picture of my parents in happier times, about 15 years ago. My mom had only just found out she had MS and she still was pretty much like always.

Here is the last picture I took of my mom before she died. This was Thanksgiving 2004. By now she had trouble talking and eating because her throat muscles didn't work. She passed away in April of 2005.

Tonight I am happy to say my yard looks nice (I'll take a picture tomorrow), my dad is taken care of for the moment, and Aleve works wonders on sore muscles (now if it only got rid of gray hair and wrinkles)!

Did I mention how much I love my dad? Having lost my mother at 62, I realize how precious my time with him is! I admire how he took care of my mom right up to the end, not an easy job!I am not ready to become the caregiver for him! I still feel like I need my parents to go to. Now I am the one everyone else comes to! The little girl inside me is screaming, "Don't grow old on me! Because then I will be getting old!"

Remember to live for today. And be sure and call your parents too!

Chris