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Health & Fitness

Prayer

Today I’m grateful for prayer.  Our family is praying very hard for Isabella and Donovan’s other grandpa (pop-pop), Wally.  I wish I had a picture of him, but I couldn’t find any and my son and Karen are too swamped to look for one.  I tried to wait until they could get one to me, but today it had to be prayer. . .and Wally, with or without a picture.  I call on other family members to post some of him before he got sick, with that twinkle in his eye and his sassy attitude.

 

I don’t know if it’s rare or normal to get along well with the in-laws of your kids, but we sure do.  We enjoy spending time with our daughter’s in Wisconsin and our son’s here. . .even the ones who we are divorced from.  They are our granddaughter’s grandparents so we share a common bond.  I can’t count the many wonderful times we had with Wally and Joan, but one stands out.  A crazy weekend at the shore where the wine, booze and stupid conversations and jokes flowed like a tsunami was my favorite.  But there were a lot.  We’d go to lunch or the movies after Grandparent’s Day.  We’d go to Phillies games.  We shared dinners and events at our kids house.  We laughed at them when their kids became more and more like them.  It’s what being a grandparent is all about.

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Wally has had a long struggle with surgery after surgery, having had five in as many weeks back in July.  Then there was intensive care, a move to a room, back to intensive care, a room, a rehab facility, back to the hospital, intensive care, rehab, etc.  It went on and on for so long, with so many changes that we all lost track. You get the picture.  The turmoil on everyone since last July is palpable.  Wally and Joan had to sell their house and move closer to my son and their daughter.  Wally came home for a short time then went back to the hospital.  Several times.

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A couple of weeks ago, we went to Donovan’s Grandparent’s Day without them for the first time.  It was weird.  We stopped in to see them after.  Wally was weak, but chatty and reading and watching movies.  He was excited to have an uncomfortable procedure surgically reversed the following Monday.  That was when things started sliding downhill at rocket speed.  Now the cycle is continuing with one crisis after another.  It’s hard on Wally.  It’s hard on Joan.  It’s hard on his kids and their spouses/sig-others.  It’s hard on his grandkids.  It’s hard on everyone.

 

So today I’m grateful for prayers. . .and hoping that you, out there in cyberspace, will add Wally and our family to your list.  If praying isn’t your thing, then please just take a second to hold a good thought.  A miracle would be great, but we’ll take anything you can offer.  Amen.

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