Our dad was one of the first people in the United States to get artificial knees. For years, he suffered. For years, he had different surgeries. For years, he kept on trying to improve his quality of life by working with doctors by improving his knees. He finally got to a point where he decided nothing was going to change and six years later he passed away. Was it worth it to him?
In previous postings, I told you about my dad being an avid skier, bowler, and dancer. He was also an avid hunter and spent a lot of time in the outdoors. Also in previous posts, pretty sure I told you about his lengthy hospital stays, even lengthier recuperation times, and that his disability did not get better. At least he was able to dance with our mom one more time before she passed.
In the book, Don Piper asked his three children what kind of impact did his accident have on them. My sister and I have talked a lot about dad and how his disability affected us. We remember him being in the hospital and not being able to see him. We remember having to empty the bedpan when dad was confined to a hospital bed at home. Even so, dad gave us his all and all, probably more so with my sister and I because we were younger and pretty much dad was disabled most of our time with him.
My sister and I were able to go on rides in the country with dad but so were my brothers. My youngest brother, who is 7 years older than me, hunted with dad. The hunting with dad ended when my brother was between 12 and 14 years old. It's probably the same time that dad had to quit bowling along with his bee keeping. The one regret my youngest brother had was that he wished he could have spent more time learning what dad knew. Dad was very talented both in electronics and mechanics, was musically talented, and had a green thumb. He was also an excellent card player. It wasn't my brother's fault that he didn't learn more from dad. The older dad got, the more he wanted to share his knowledge. By that time, my brother was no longer living at home. Dad was busy providing for the family and when he was at home, he had so much to get done. At least he was able to enjoy life through card playing with family and friends, his love for driving through the countryside, and visiting with people. Those things lasted throughout his life.
Tonight my brother who is two years older than my younger brother is going to talk to me about the same things. It will be interesting to get his viewpoints. In a couple of weeks, my oldest living brother (who is four years older than my youngest brother) will be giving me his viewpoints too.
Today's earrings will be painted in the future but here they are as they are in their current state (don't think that sentence is a good sentence).
