2017 - The Lost Year

Over a year has gone by since my last post. For lack of a better expression I kind of consider 2017 to a lost year. It’s not that I didn’t do a lot. In fact it was an extremely busy and full year but not in the way I really wanted. I felt it was more important to pay attention to some things I didn’t really want to deal with so I re-set my priorities. Doing the right thing doesn’t always mean doing what you want to do. I wrote very little over the past year. I did write a couple of stories that I never got around to cleaning up and posting. Creatively I was flat and uninspired. I can't believe I let an entire year slip buy without a post. As a side note the Dec 25 comment and link on this blog were not posted by me. Somehow my account was hacked.

Most all of my time during the course of 2017 was filled with work or duties of some sort. The first half of the year had me in a holding pattern as my sister and I made arrangements to help my mother move back to Texas from Colorado. In the spring I made time to take my friend Deb from England on a nice two week road trip through West Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. It was her first time to the USA. Later in the Summer I took another two week road trip by myself to see the eclipse in Nebraska before rolling across Colorado on my way to Mammoth Lakes, Ca then back to Texas via Arizona and New Mexico. The later part of the year I simply wasn’t comfortable straying away from home as I could see my fathers health declining. Two domestic roads trips were my only travel for 2017 aside of a brief 3 day get away to visit a friend in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Normally I would have taken an interesting trip overseas in the fall but that was not to be the case.

As far as I was concerned travel was out for the fall as I took my father to periodic Dr’s appointments. He seemed to bounce back from time to time but an overall steady decline in his health had been becoming more noticeable. Something was telling me to stay close to home. Then came the ER visits.

On the first ER visit he was hospitalized for a couple of days, released, and then seemed to rebound pretty good. The second time we were in and out of the ER within about 3 hours. No big deal. The third ER visit would be the last. It was the Friday before Christmas that my stepmother took him in. He was admitted to the hospital but I wasn’t too worried. The first couple of days my stepmother and I took turns spending time with him. By Sunday things turned more serious and he was transferred to a better hospital in the medical center. By Monday it became clear that my father would be passing soon. There wasn’t really anything the Dr’s could do. On Wednesday he passed. My sister, stepmother and myself were at his side as he took his last breath. It was incredibly emotional. Although my fathers health had been declining I didn’t expect him to go quite so soon and so fast. I saw a lot of dad over the course of 2017 and now feel that it was a blessing I didn't travel in the fall. To have been gone while he passed would have been all the more painful.

Back in the day the cause of my father’s death would have likely been referred to as old age. Heart and organs were wearing out. On thing begins to fail and another thing follows. He went fast and peacefully which is how he or most anyone would hope to go. Needless to say his passing has been a really big deal for me. A heck of a way to end the year.