Bless-ed

The week since I last posted has been one of those weeks that make you say, "Holy Crap-a-Moly!"
(That would be a young Macism phrase...)

We went camping for Labor Day weekend and I spent several days running around, preparing food, making lists and generally freaking out trying to prepare for our excursion. On Thursday, I drove up to where we planned on camping and reserved our spot early thinking it would be packed for the holiday weekend. (which, to my great surprise, it wasn't) That took the majority of the day. My in-laws came into town and we went to dinner with them on Thursday night.

Friday I ran around like a maniac trying to prepare food ahead of time and gather the multitude of things required to camp. We still left later than we hoped... as usual.

In the midst of all of this, I was trying to figure stuff out for Mac's schooling. You see, we've decided to keep Mac home this year and we are using the K-12 program for his school. We still don't have his books and so I've been trying to figure out what we can do and trying to learn all about the program. Holy-crap-a-moly, I'm nuts.

And speaking of nuts... it's pretzel-dipping season again. The seasonal shop where I sell my stuff opened today and I wanted to be all prepared way ahead of time, but somehow that doesn't seem to be how I roll.

Back to camping... we had a great time, leaving Friday night and returning Monday around noon. Upon our return, we unpacked everything, cleaned up, showered and got "the dipping room" ready for chocolate and messes. Then, we went out to eat again with Dustin's parents who were coming back through town from their own camping trip. After we ate, I went home with the intention of dipping the night away, but I was so exhausted that I fell asleep on the couch at about 8:30 and ended up just going to bed about 9:00.

As if that weren't enough to make me say, 'Holy-Crap-a-Moly!'...

After my 9:00 crash, I woke up to the tail end of the phone ringing. I missed the call. It was just after midnight. I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was my mom calling from her cell phone. When I called her back she let me know that my dad had just been taken to the hospital in an ambulance. She was on her way over behind him and could Dustin come over to the hospital and give him a priesthood blessing. Something was wrong with his heart, she thought, but she kept saying "I think he's going to be ok."

"Of course Dustin would come over", I assured her.

I got off the phone and relayed her message to Dustin who had also been asleep. He got up out of bed and came straight over and hugged me. Hard. At the time I just wondered why he was wasting time hugging me when he needed to be getting to the hospital. He threw clothes on and left.

After he left, I knew why he was hugging me so hard. I was alone in the dark of my room. I didn't know what was going on and I started imagining all the worst things. What would I do without my dad? He is such a rock, such a foundation for our family. He is so knowledgeable and wise and he is such a comfort to me personally. Those thoughts went on and on and in short order I was an emotional wreck. I wanted to be at the hospital with my mom. I prayed. Hard.

After 45 minutes, Dustin called and asked if I would like his parents to come over and sleep at my house so I could go to the hospital. Yes, I wanted that. More than anything. So, they came over and I left.

By the time I got there (about 1:30 am) my dad was already out of surgery. He had a heart attack and the surgeon had put two stints in his artery. He will have to have one more within the next month or so. We listened to the doctor tell us things and we hugged and cried. My dad was ok.

In just a few minutes we got to go in and see him. He had been awake through the surgery so he was bright-eyed and alert when we walked in. We talked to the doctor some more and he showed us a video of the surgery. Modern medicine can be truly amazing.

I left the hospital at about 4:00 am with a profound sense of relief and gratitude. I cried as I hugged him, feeling so grateful that all my imaginations were unfounded. He is still here. I have an amazing father whom I love more than I can express.

The next day I had to dip pretzels, but all I really wanted to do was go to the hospital and watch my dad breathe.

I am so blessed.