The last few days....

[ECU-ALUM]

I have had some challenges these last few days. To start with my wife is a Pastor and she has been at the National Youth Gathering in New Orleans since last Monday leaving me to be both "mom & dad" to my five year old son. My mom lives about three blocks from me and offered to help out until Thursday when I was taking my son to North Carolina to see my dad.

Well Tuesday evening my mom got violently ill...to the point where she threw up 7 times in 2 hours...I got a firiend of mine to watch my son and put him to bed. After staying up all-night in the E-R and texting my wife and other family members about the situation my mom was admitted to the hospital. She insisted that I still go see my dad because I had already taken the time off and I hadn't seen him in a while. I wanted to go and my son was really looking forward to seeing him because my dad works for an aviation firm. Which means he could get my son access to see all kinds of helicopters and jets. I called my dad and told what was going on and that I was still thinking about coming down. For the first time in a long time (about 20 years) my dad yelled at me. He yelled, "You stay there with your mother and take care of her. Is that understood? We will get together maybe next year, but your mother needs you right now! You don't even think of leaving there! Do I make myself clear?" I felt like I was a 16 year old who had been busted for coming in after curfew. (Wow who knew...my dad who spent 30 years in the Marine Corps has a temper...what were the odds of that?). It seemed likely that surgery was the only option and two years ago she had the same thing done...and she nearly bled out.

Just when things seemed their darkest...they went completely black on Thursday (when I was going to leave originally). We got massive t-storms and there was a gap in the weatherstriping and the outside door to our basement. 1/3 of the basement had standing water. It gets better though...the wet-dry vac began leaking water and literally fell apart. I called my friend again and I ran to Lowes and got a new shop-vac.

My friend was in the process of moving and he left on Saturday...I miss him he's a good guy but he found a new job and he'll be making more money...can't fault him.

My mom is doing much better...her body is healing and it looks like surgery might be off the table now. (Thank you Lord) and my wife gets home tomorrow night. Through it all though...I know God has been with me and I am grateful beyond words for that....my son is only 5 years old but he has been nothing short of awesome. He has given me a laugh when I need it and he has displayed a maturity way beyond his years. He doesn't understand any of this really but he has taken it all in stride...I am so proud of him. (I plan on rewarding him in a big way...he has been asking for Transformers and I have set aside some money...maybe in the next couple weeks I'll take him to Toys-R-Us and let him have some fun).

I said all that to say this...I have been coming to this message board a lot more often this past week than usual (which is hard to believe considering this is my home page). Mainly because it has been a most welcomed distraction...I have laughed at some of the posts, gotten angry, thought about them and came away (sometimes) with a new point of view. You all have been a blessing to me this past week....thank you all so very much.

[88Comrade2000]

Glad to hear your mom is doing better; hope all works out for you.

[edgun88]

Thats life man. Glad to see your doing ok though.

[FanboyOf91]

Damn!

Hope it turns out all right with your mom.