You’ll notice that there aren’t any fancy pictures in this post. I’m composing it on my tablet via a thin, very thin!, WiFi signal. The quick version: my father had a stroke almost exactly a week ago and is now in hospice care at home with my mom. My brother and I are here with them until his body decides its time to let go.
That said, we were fortunate in one small aspect. My brother and I had both already set aside time to get their family home ready for sale since they’ve moved into a wonderful independent senior facility. Yes, until this happened, at 86 and 91, they were largely independent and proudly so. They’ve been married for 68 years and wherever one of them is, it’s home for both of them. (I wrote about how they met in this post about a family Thanksgiving.) Hospice is a great concept for care, too, because, in final days, home is so much better than a noisy hospital.
My father has had a good and long life. He loved the outdoors, worked in a lumber camp as a teen, spent four years in the Navy making sure the USS O’Brien’s secondary engines would work if needed (a supply ship that took fire every day for over three years), and moved on to a long career as a highway patrol officer. During that time he flew in search and rescue missions for years, using his extensive knowledge of the Northern California Sierras. He loved flying so much he got his private pilot’s license, then qualified for commercial status so he could fly the CHP speed control plane. That’s right, if you got a speeding ticket on I-5 coming into Sacramento in the 1980s-90s, it might have been him!
Down to business. Read More
