One year ago

at about this same time of day, I went to my parents'
house to visit with them before I left town for a four
day conference. Dad had been to the doctor that week
after his legs gave out on him for no apparent reason.

It was to be the last day he would ever be in his home.

That night, Mom thought he was having a stroke. He
couldn't lift his left hand and was having difficulty
talking.

She called here first. She had forgotten
I was out of town. My brother didn't have a phone so she
couldn't reach him. Before she called an ambulance,
she was hopeful one of us would come over and take
a look at Dad and determine that perhaps he was just
fatigued or something.

But we weren't to be found.

She called the ambulance. She called Wes back and told
him they were on the way to the hospital and to try to reach
me.

I had just unpacked my suitcase and gone downstairs for a drink
and a bite to eat. I didn't hear my phone ring because the opening
dinner was a dinner/dance thing and the music was very loud.

I had to go to the restroom, and when I got there, I heard my
phone beeping. I had missed two calls from my son. When I called
him back, he told me what my mom had told him.

I got my husband on the phone and told him to go knock
on my brother's door and tell him what was going on.

I told my boss what was going on and went upstairs to pack
my clothes and head home. As I was packing, my brother
called from the hospital to tell me that the doctor said
Dad needed to be sent by Medivac to a hospital with a neurosurgeon
and a staff equipped to deal with, what the doctor termed,
a serious stroke--one he may not recover from.

And so the ambulance loaded him up and took him away
and then the helicopter took him away

and he never came back home.

The weeping cherry that was given to me in your memory,
Dad, is in full bloom today. You would love it.

I drove by the house this morning and your backyard
looked so beautiful. The huge forsythia by the back door,
the flowering crabapple, the redbuds, the daffodils, and
the hyacinths. All the flowers you and Mom worked so
hard together to plant and tend.

I miss you. Each day I am better, but my heart is so full
today and now so are my eyes. I can't believe it's been a year.

I hope I get to see you somewhere again.