One thing you can always count on is the unexpected. This week the ground finally is fully snow-free at my house and I was planning on getting tons of farm stuff done.
The Universe had other ideas.
My grandpa is eighty-five years old. According to his heart doctor he has the ticker of a forty-year old. Dude has been active his whole life, and when I say active I mean a timber falling, power lineman, avid hunter and fisherman, softball playing type of active.
That said, age comes after us all, and when I got a phone call from the fam on Monday saying my Pops had to be routed to the hospital from his doctor appointment, well, it was a bit sad.
Without going into tons of personal medical details, Pops is having all sorts of issues regarding his heart and medication interactions. As you age, no matter how healthy or active you've been, stuff starts giving out. Our systems don't work like they used too or take too kindly to changes in our routines.
So that is how I ended up in the hospital cafeteria yesterday with my grandma, aunt, and cousin. It was like a family reunion in all the ways you don't want one.
Pops had to undergo a procedure yesterday to straighten out the rhythm of his heart. The procedure went well, mainly because I think Pops just wants to get out of there. He's one of those patients nurses just love I'm sure. The kind who are beyond over independent and don't want to be there.
My favorite moment of the day yesterday happened right after I got there to visit Pops, he was dozing in his hospital bed and stirred when I walked in. I was sitting on the edge of his bed chatting with him when the nurse walked in and said,
"Oh, you got back in bed."
"Well, yah, I had finished going to the bathroom so I got back in bed," my Pops replied in the most matter of fact tone ever.
I quickly looked out the window so that the nurse couldn't see my mirth. Pops is a legendary level of stubborn independence wrapped in a sprightly package. He's polite though, so I think that might help with keeping the nurse's favor.
Today, the sun's shining brightly and it's a gorgeous day out. I know Pops would rather be home raking and burning the two tree needles that dared fall in his immaculately manicured yard or tinkering on a chainsaw engine is his hospital sterile shop. Instead, he's getting to chill his wheels in a hospital bed surrounded by all sorts of strangers, two things I know he loathes.
But that's the funny thing about life, as Spring and the other seasons so often remind us, just as we get used to one season another happens upon us. And the change is evident whether we acknowledge or like it.
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's always in need of an update iPhone.