Foolish no more...

APRIL FOOL - Is how I feel today. It's a feeling that I am slowly trying to get away from. Six years ago my father passed away; the day after April first, the day I had come back home from visiting him in the hospital. For two weeks I was a constant presence and fixture of the ICU waiting room. Camping out: sleeping alone in a freezing room, cushions lined on a floor, eating out of vending machines and bird baths from a restroom sink, and unshaved. But I was there. I was there visiting my dying father in the Abilene ICU Hospital for two weeks hoping beyond hope. Those last few years was the closest my father and I ever came to having a real relationship of sharing ideas and understanding.
Yet... I went home to take care of some paper work for FMLA, the day after April 1st 2008, I got word he was "gone".  I'm beginning to feel less "foolish" but I still miss him greatly. He told me once that he was proud of me, and then again in the hospital just days before... I... I... know I haven't lived up to his high standard, but I see his face in the mirror every time I shave.

A Really Big OUCH!

   When I was twelve years old I fell out of a tree breaking both bones in my right arm; that took "forever" to heal in a cast up to my shoulder.  Last month I had a jammed middle finger that swelled up with infection.
    I must have been bitten by a spider or something; because I developed this horribly painful pimple that didn't go away after eight days.  I finally broke down and went to the doctor who said I should have come in seven days ago. He numbed the pain with a huge gauge needle, then lanced it open with a scalpel by an inch and a half, but it was the 10 minuets of squeezing to ooze out the infectious pressure that overwhelmed the experience in pain.  The doctor that did the procedure was an 18 year military veteran, who told me many of his soldiers would have been yelling out.  I didn't make a sound which impressed him; my waiting so long didn't. Believe me, my side hurts, even though I haven't been to the Doctor in years - this was a really big OUCH!!!
   As of today, Sunday, I'M feeling better with all the pain reliever and antibiotics; called in to work (sorry guys), but all the bending and stretching can't be dealt with - doc's excuse will have to do, and FMLA.