Update on Dad

The past few months have been a serious sea-change for the Lotts, Geoff & Alicia version.

As we prepared to move to Los Angeles, I struggled a lot with the thought of leaving my family and the only life I ever knew. Leaving my dad is especially hard, but there's so little I can do even if I'm in the next room. He's got great care at Rozi's, and he's close to family and friends. Overall, however, he does need some prayers.

Within the past few months he was having small seizures, and has been put on some meds to control them. This worried me, as it may be a sign of impending, larger problems. The other day he had a high fever and went to the hospital, diagnosed with pneumonia. This REALLY worried me, as he's not in a position to move around much. The thought of my dad suffering through illness at this point in his life is too much to fathom. We've all had "the talk" about "extraordinary efforts" that would, or would NOT, be taken in order to save our lives.

Many of the lessons I learned from my dad have been learned YEARS later, long after he was teaching them to me. About having goals, saving money, being compassionate, loyalty, and hard work. He was an example of all of these. In this time of his life I know he deserves these things from me, so it is hard to not be there to show him. However, I can, and do, and WILL, impart these daily.

A Realization of This Human Life

Yesterday afternoon my wife and I went to visit my dad.
His new home is much better for him to be at, the care he gets is superior and it feels much better to have him there.
As we sat with him and talked about Katie and Brian, their wedding, their forthcoming "blessed event," I started to realize how much more life we have to live, much of it without my dad. Not to sound morose or macabre, I pray that his life is as God will's it. But really, as my father lost his ability to communicate and move, we have lost most of my dad. It's sad, this condition. It's more brutal on the family of the person, as I'm sure there are people who have handled it with less aplomb and grace than we have. Not that we've been perfect, but our Faith and our Friends and our togetherness has really helped us through it all.

I realized something that really made me sad, also. My wife will not really get to meet my dad until we're all in Heaven. It made me think of how long she must go without really getting to talk to him and spend time with him. He would really love Alicia, and be very proud of her and the work she puts into being an incredible wife, and somebody who is really finding her spirituality.

In the meantime, we have begun looking at all of those necessary insurance options as couples, and Long Term Care is right there. I pray we will never need it, but if so, yep, we should get some. I pray that I will be healthy and Present well into my 80s or 90s. Gotta think positive.

In the meantime, thank you all for your prayers and well-wishes.