Happy Father's Day Superman
Daddy don’t let go, please don’t let go.
My arms wrapped around my fathers neck and I willed him to take me home. I
could feel his grip on me tighten as he carried me down the hospital corridor.
I rested my throbbing head on his strong shoulder, while my tears soaked
through his flannel shirt.
I fell on my head. It explains a lot, so
people tell me. The hospital terrified me. But when you have a lump on your
forehead the size of a tennis ball and you throw up, you’re going on a middle
of the night trip to the Emergency Room. Having my father’s strong arms around
me made it bearable.
My father has always been a source of
strength for me. My mother calls him stubborn. Because he would proceed when
others would give up doesn’t always mean stubborn, it means perseverance and
strength. My father does not quit.
Going through my wallet I found a crumbled
receipt. On it were cell phone numbers, my mom’s, my brothers and my
sister-in-laws. I wrote on the first piece of paper I could find. Written down
so we could all get in touch with each other at any time. These phone numbers
were also for our kids if they needed us because someone was always at the
hospital, my father had a heart attack.
Because of a raging infection it was three
months before we got him home. This is when I saw his strength in a different
light. He spent two months in intensive care. That’s where he decided he could
breath on his own and he took his breathing tube out himself. He beat the odds,
amazed the doctors and kept the nurses on their toes. He left the hospital
without his sternum and his left hand holding up his sweat pants.
“They told me I can’t drive.”
“Yeah dad, because of the air bags and not
having a sternum.”
“So I’m supposed to sit in the back seat,
let your mother driving me around like she’s my chauffeur?”
“I………”
“She can’t drive in the snow.”
“I can drive in the snow.”
“I’m going to the Feds.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but he was
going to the Feds?
For the next month my father was on the
phone with the federal government explaining his medical situation. He filled
out papers, his doctors filled out papers. While waiting for the Feds to okay
an on/off switch for his airbag, he scoured the area for a mechanic. He
received his okay, had the mechanic come to him and do the job in his driveway.
From the time I was a child in my father’s
strong arms to now when I see him struggle because his grandsons have to cut
his grass, my father has taught me
strength. Through the years I have gained confidence because I learned to per
severe and be strong. I believe my father is Superman. I believe he is the
source of my strength.
