A Wierd Summer

Summers for our family usually involve a BBQ at the parent's house every weekend, lots of darts and horse shoes and generally just a good time. This year has been different. Dad's esophagus pooped out and got a hole in it. So when your chief chef and activity director has a tube in his nose down to his stomach which renders him unable to eat, things change. Of course Dad told us we could still do all the things we have done but really we could not. How in the world could we sit and eat in front of the man when he is surviving on a liquid diet? My Dad loves loves food, so to have him not eating more than sucking on a pringle potato chip for the salt or eating the frosting off of a cupcake has been harder than seeing him fight cancer twice. So we have improvised as far as summer fun. We all are wandering around like lost little puppies not sure where to go. We still go and see the parents every weekend but we all do it at different times as to not tire Dad out. We take Mom to yard sales or shopping etc but we never eat at the house. It is very weird. Dad knows we do this and he knows we know he knows but it is just not talked about. It is just apart of our lives right now. He did all this for his grandchildren. He cannot imagine just giving up and not being here to watch them grow. After waiting through the past two months in hopes that he would gain some weight, he had the PET scan. We prepared ourselves that even a little bit of cancer would mean another new chapter. Well, he has no cancer in his body. MIRACLE! So he is going to endure another major surgery to repair the darn esophagus. I am still in awe of the events of the last three months. It has flown by. Summer has a good 6 weeks left. Tonight when I saw my Dad sucking the life out of a pringle watching the Mariners on television I thought to myself if he can embrace this weird Summer so can the rest of us.