My father was dying of lung cancer in the hospital. If I didn’t find humor in some of the things he did or said then he wouldn’t have been the dad that I had loved for thirty seven years.
Some of the things he said or did was so funny especially considering the timing. He would come up with the funniest things at the oddest of time. We didn’t realize it but we needed it so badly and somehow made me see who my father really was. It helped all of us not to focus only on the fact that he was dying but just to focus on him and his fantastic personality.
Him being the man that he was, made him more concerned about the people around him. He knew that he was the pillar of the family not only for me his only child but for my children and especially all of his siblings considering he was the eldest. He knew that all of us were saddened by having to watch him wither away with this disease and was always trying to give us a laugh and usually he was the brunt of his own jokes.
My father was very weak and had a very difficult time getting up and down but still insisted on keeping some dignity and always wanted to go to the washroom and not use a bed pan.
Three of his sisters came to visit my dad at the hospital in order to give me a much needed break. He informed them that he needed to take a pee but couldn’t get himself out of the bed. They quickly got together and the one sister (Jody) grabbed one arm the other sister (Kate) grabbed his other arm and last but not least Trish grabbed all of the hoses and tubes that he needed to carry around.
My father who was not very well and was very weak still had a beautiful sense of humor even this close to death. He looks around at all of them and says “Well that’s just great I most certainly do not have enough sisters because Jody you have one side of me, Kate have the other and Trish you have all of my accessories and I am busy holding up my gown……someone better call the nurse because we are in desperate of need another person to hold the big heavy thing”. With that all of the sisters burst into laughter along with my father.
To some this may not be too funny but with knowing my father this was the much needed ice breaker for all of them. That was with no doubt the brother and the father that we all knew and loved.
Miss you dad……
Beckie
