terminally ill – Hudson Valley Dog Mom

I Thought You Were Gone

That morning, I thought you were gone. I thought that I’d never live through the 20th of September without thinking, the day my dad died. When mom called me, at 3 am, I thought for sure, this was the end. I called Darren sobbing, and drove myself to the hospital, crying and breathing hysteric breaths the…

Getting into Graduate School, It’s Almost Christmas, and Everything Else

I feel like I’ve been sporadically giving you guys life updates, and a few exciting things have happened recently that I wanted to keep you up to date on… I Got into Grad School Even though I thought I Wouldn’t First things first, I got into grad school! I can’t actually describe my anticipation when…

Home

My 25th birthday is three days away. Today, I push my Dad in a wheelchair and we meet with a gastrointestinal surgeon; he steps on a scale. He has lost 20 pounds in 20 days. We go into the office together. I sit on the table, Jim in his wheelchair, and Ab in the office…

Magic

I remember being a teenager, eating dinner with my family, and dancing in the kitchen afterwards. My Dad would wash the dishes, my Mom and I would dry them, we’d turn up the radio, she’d be giggling after her evening glass of wine, and we’d dance. Jim would scoop ice cream out of the container…

Neon Lights

I’ve never thought of myself as strong, maybe because no one else ever has, but I also never thought I’d be sitting in a dimly lit grocery store parking lot three weeks before Christmas with my Dad who was just diagnosed with ALS talking about our very short future. We sit, waiting for my Mom…