I hope that all of you had a wonderful Father's Day with your dad(s). This was the first year in my life that I did not spend Father's Day with my dad. Matt and I went down south to spend Dad's day with his family. We were going to visit my dad on Saturday but he and mom had plans already, so we are going to do the "official" Dad's day festivities next weekend.
Dad and I played phone tag all day yesterday, and I finally got him on the line at 9:30pm. He and mom were driving home from Santa Rosa. They had a small emergency to tend to. Now, before I go on with the story of this emergency, let me tell you that this is just an example of what a loving, compassionate, and selfless man my father is. The story is even more compelling because it occurred on Father's day.
Recently,one of my mother's sisters (she's 51) had a brain clot and was admitted into the hospital. While in the hospital, my aunt went on to have a heart attack, brain surgery, congestive heart failure, and then pneumonia. She was in a coma for a week as well. They were expecting to pull the plug on her last week, but miraculously my aunt woke up and spoke. She was then moved out of ICU and into a regular room. It really was a miracle considering what auntie had gone through.
My aunt has one son, Mike, who is 16, and it is just the two of them. The dad is in and out of the picture and including my cousin, this man has 10 kids from 4-5 different women. But that is a whole other weirdness. While my aunt is in the hospital, her son has been staying in Lake Tahoe with one of his older half brothers. Tahoe is over 2 hours from Santa Rosa. The whole situation with my aunt and her kid is a tough one in my family. Although we love our aunt because she is our blood, she is not one of the favorites because she is, let say, very Jerry Springerish. Yeah, she's the relative you'd see on the Springer show. EVERY family has a member like that. There's multiple topics my aunt would qualify for, so without any more detail, I'll just leave it at that.
So yesterday, Mike was going to visit his mother in the hospital, and he took Greyhound. His route though went from Lake Tahoe to Oakland which is like 4 hours, and then a bus transfer from Oakland back up to Santa Rosa, another 2.5 hours. He had to go down to go back up. It's a weird route. Anyway, the bus from Tahoe came in late, so Mike missed his bus transfer and there were no other buses. He was stranded in Oakland, not the safest place for a 16 year old to be stranded. So Mike called my folks. Without a beat, my dad jumped into the car with my mom at about 4:30pm. Mom just got back from work. They drove to Oakland (80 minutes) picked Mike up, and then took him to Santa Rosa (2.5 hours). Then from Santa Rosa they drove back home (90 minutes). This is the point where I spoke to my dad. Dad didn't get to go out to dinner or get to do anything "fun" for himself. Instead, he was out helping my 16 year old cousin get to his sick mother.
That whole story made me cry. I was so proud of my dad. He's not just a good dad, he is a really wonderful human being. Like my mother too, I hope to be that compassionate, loving, and caring like my parents. They have definitely taught me a great deal about family, and being helpful to to thers. I could not imagine having better parents than the ones I have. I am truly blessed. Dad, here's to you!!
