Re: Homecoming...@ Dena

[Guest guest]

Hola Dena ;-)

Dad is still here actually - He went home from the Nursing Home. He

is now under Hospice watch.

Hope all is well with you!

>

> > Being not an American for almost half my life, I

> > never did not fully

> > grasp the term " Homecoming " in this culture. I'd

> > always pretend I

> > never really got it and ask " Where did the athletes

> > leave that they

> > need a party every year when they come back? " Worse

> > yet, why did

> > they keep leaving?

> >

> > Of course I was poking fun.

> >

> > Then I saw once my Dad being taken away early this

> > year in a

> > ambulance to an unknown place after his health took

> > a very bad turn.

> > His competition took the best of his abilities and

> > he lost the

> > freedom to chose his next team. He left physically

> > torn with great

> > signs of the opposing team called Alzheimer's.

> >

> > I did not see him ever coming back home quite

> > honestly. I went to

> > see him in this place where fighters are left to

> > die, where battles

> > are left unspoken, where each day hope is something

> > that used to be.

> > I could sometimes listen to his whispers, but his

> > eyes had his voice;

> > I'm giving up.

> >

> > I could not see a homecoming for my Dad.

> >

> > Today the grand stadium of his life turned ON its

> > lights. That

> > mechanical red machine with blinking lights brought

> > him back. I

> > wanted to stand up from my reserved seat and CHEER

> > HIM outload, and

> > well, I did not just do that...I ran over this field

> > and embraced him.

> >

> > His outer shell is even more torn than ever, but

> > when I said " Papi,

> > you are HOME now, don't be scared anymore " , his

> > smile was like in the

> > old days, when as a child he carried me to me bed;

> > so loving.

> >

> > His eyes looked at his home and then found the teary

> > eyes of his

> > sweetheart. In silence they held hands and tender

> > kisses soon

> > followed.

> >

> > So now I do understand what homecoming is about -

> > just that Dad

> > taught me in his own special way.

> >

> > Thank YOU for all of you who stood with me in this

> > stadium....of life.

> >

> > Now begins a new chapter in my Dad's life....

> >

> > and mine too....

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

>

>

>

>

>

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