A year ago today, will be another one of those "I will never forget" days. I was downstairs folding the laundry after the kids had gone off to school and my sister Mona called to say "Hey!! Are you watching the news?" to which I replied "No, why?" She said "Turn it on right now! There was a huge earthquake in Sendai and then they got hit by a Tsunami!!" I turned it on and all I could say was "Oh my gosh.....oh my gosh....oh my gosh....." My hands were shaking and I couldn't take my eyes off the TV. I sat in unbelief as a HUGE Tsunami devastated areas of Tohoku and wiped out entire towns. The reason my sister called to check was because I had served my mission there and she knew that I would be worried about the people I had grown to love while serving there. I was in a state of shock all day. With all of the images and little news clips that kept coming in, I kept hoping that I might here from some of the people I knew. In the next few days, I did hear from one friend who lived in Fukushima and she said that they were doing alright and were only concerned about the nuclear plant nearby (which I am STILL concerned about). A piece of my heart will always be with those dear people of Sendai and other surrounding areas I've served in.
If I thought that was going to be the only bad news of the day, I had another think coming. Later that afternoon, my dad called me with news from his oncologist; his cancer had come back (he had been in remission from prostate cancer for 2 years) and had spread to his bones. My heart broke. It was one thing to live so far away from the people of Tohoku, but at the same time I felt safe in the knowledge that help was on it's way. It's quite another thing to get a phone call from your Dad and not know how bad things really were. I couldn't drive over to hug him. I couldn't go over to help my Mom through the news ~ I felt absolutely helpless and was so sad for a long time after the news. It wasn't until a few months later when my mom called and told me "You know, Dad and I are taking this one day at a time. And your Dad told me that he doesn't want to do treatments this time around. He is ready to go. He misses his Mom & Dad." I imagine that would break most people's heart but for me, it was a breakthrough. It really was a testimony builder for me and a reminder that my Dad will be my Dad forever!! Me and my family may not be able to be with him everyday to make memories that my kids can keep of him, but we have Eternity to do that. I have to be grateful for whatever precious time I have now and make the most of it, but I don't need to be so hard on myself for being so far away and unable to help as much as I would like. My Dad knows where my heart is and he knows that if I could, I would be there with the grandkids and Aaron.
I Am GRATEFUL For ~ a Strong, Courageous, Super Spiritual, Smart, Silly, Hard Working, Loving Dad! A year ago, it felt like somebody had hit a dreadful Timer when he called to tell me that he was diagnosed with cancer, but here we are a year later and I feel like he's taken the Timer and thrown it out the window! I could wish for so many things right now, but my Biggest Wish is that my Dad will always know how much he is Loved by all of us!!!
