One year ago today.....

we were all at St.Mary's in the 4th floor family waiting area while Dad had his surgery. Big day. Long day. Emotional day. And successful day!

Hard to imagine that was one year ago....and now Dad's heart is pumping better than ever.

My favorite memory of that day was late at night - we were leaving for the day - and the nurse in the ICU said that if we waited about thirty minutes they were going to take out Dad's ventilator so he could talk. It was about 9pm. Dad squeezed my hand, pointed to Mom and made the hand motion to the door. "You want us to take Mom home, Dad?" BIG nod in response. Even with the ventilator in and all the tubes, Dad was still most worried about Mom. He knew she was tired.

Of course, the next couple of weeks were a blur....but the important thing is that everyone landed on their feet. And as strange as it sounds, and as stressful as that whole time period was....it sure was fun to spend time with everybody.

Next time we all get together, let's have it be a beach in the sunshine! =)