A Family Weekend

My Aunt and My Mom (sisters)

My brother (why does he look like Bob Marley, you ask? He was dropped on his head many many times)

Hubs and Miss Missy


Sir Talks-A-Lot, Miss Missy, Cousin KeKe and Runnin' Man

I got the chance to spend the weekend with my family. Not just ones that I always see and spend my best times with. Well, they were there too, but I'm talkin' about my parents, brother, sister and niece.

My family is quite complicated these days now that my parents are divorced, so we really don't get to spend time together anymore because, well, my mom now lives in Connecticut with her new husband, my dad has a girlfriend and, they don't talk much.

Matter of fact, the whole situation is WAY uncomfortable and so dysfunctional that I ALMOST withdrew myself from the whole darn thing after the divorce 2 years ago.

And then my dad got sick.

One year ago this month, I got the call.

I had already had a missed call on my phone from my dad and hadn't had the chance to call him back.

My grandmother's number popped up on my on the caller ID and I knew there was something wrong. I just felt it. Grandma doesn't just call all willy nilly and that along with the missed call from my dad put a knot in my stomach as I answered the call.

"Have you talked to your dad," she asked.

"No, I missed his call. I was about to call him back. You know he never answers his phone."

"You might wanna go ahead and call him. He's in the hospital."

My heart dropped. My dad wasn't one for getting sick. He NEVER went to the doctor for anything, I don't care what it was. So for him to be "in the hospital" meant that it had to be a big deal.

She said he had called her and told her that he was having severe headaches and that he could barely see. She told him go to the doctor immediately.

My call waiting clicked in. It was him, she told me to call her back and let her know what was going on.

His voice sounded so frail on the other line as he told me that the doctor had found a mass in his brain. I lost the stability in my legs as I slowly sat on my bed. He was so afraid because I said he knew what that meant. A tumor. I was afraid thinking, not my father.

As the tears fell, I told him that I would be there in the morning.

The test showed that there were TWO masses on his brain. Stage 4 Glioblastoma multiforme brain cancer.

Two days later, he was under the knife. Family had flown and driven in from Michigan and the waiting room was filled with his brothers, sisters, cousins and friends.

Amazing how a tragic and scary time can bring together the folks that you love.

My mother was on a plane the day of the surgery.

That morning, I was in the waiting room, feelin' pretty much alone, but with a friend of his from his church. I didn't know her, but she comforted me as I fidgeted and waited for word from the doctor. I was thanking God for this doctor, because according to his credentials, he was one of the best in the country at what he does. He's retired now.

My Grandmother walked off the elevator when they took him into recovery and I couldn't have been happier to have a familiar face there whose shoulder I could cry on.

As family and friends began to arrive and await his recovery, the waiting room quickly filled and we prayed together, cried together and laughed together. And you know what, there is nothing like a praying family!

So fast forward to this weekend.

I felt blessed to having my family under one roof in a situation where there wasn't a tragedy. I feel blessed that after undergoing brain surgery, my dad was able to walk out of that hospital, surrounded by a LOAD of family and friends who had prayed their hearts out for him. I feel blessed that there had been no return of this deadly beast and I feel, no, I KNOW that it has been because of the power of prayer. If I never believed before, I believe today.

I feel blessed that we were able to spend this time together.

My dad and the kids

My Mom and my sister. Yes, I'm sure that's my mom!

My sister and Runnin' Man

Miss Missy and her cousin KeKe