Dad

This is the view from my hotel room window this morning. For the last few days, I've been getting up to blog Boston.com at 5:30 am PST before heading out to see Dad. Some Californians say that highway noise sounds like the sea. That's bullshit.

Dad has taken a turn for the worse in the last few weeks. The cancer has spread from his lung to his liver and his brain. He says things that don't make sense. But he's always unfailingly funny and kind to everyone. We were in the emergency room for hours yesterday and we all got to laughing - he has moments where he comes out of the haze and does his funny impersonations...it was so good to be there for that. So there I was feeling grateful in the ER.

We're going to put him on hospice care today. It's horrible to be back in a nursing home, after what I went through with Mom. And since nothing can compare to how wonderful The Boston Home was, it feels very nasty to me there. Maybe I can find a better care facility, but Hide does not want to move him and Dad really doesn't know where he is.

I'm thankful for coming here after our whirlwind sister's weekend. We had a ball...and I'll blog more about that later. And I'm thankful for Bob, who's doing a great job holding down the fort at home...even though he gets a call from Drew everyday about something Bob forgot to give him...lunch money, homework, and this morning a call asking for new shoes. It seems Drew stepped in dog poop on his way to school.

But for now where I am, it's loud, the coffee's bad, and it's all very sad, but also, really, very sweet. I'm treasuring Dad's smiles and wisecracks.