Old Hat

FD Thornton

Taking care of my usual weekday chores like making sure my wife’s medicine is right. And that our oldest son has the supplies he needs for the week, like food, clothing, and internet schedule laid out. While they help as much as they can, unfortunately they still need tending to for certain needs we all usually take for granted. But after 37 years most of it had become old hat, it’s just that me personally has slowed down a bit from the young man that once pulled all the strings with such gusto.

Working to overcome my own limitations for the last 25 years, I have a new appreciation for those that do without. For my wife and son didn’t ask to be born with disabilities and limitations. And while the same could have been said for my own mental and physical health. At least I had the choice to recover as best I could. But often your best isn’t good enough and the progress you once felt you were making is slowly robbed from you by our greatest adversary…time.

So I sit here as patiently as I can waiting for an upcoming appointment with my cardiac surgeon about yet another procedure. It’s funny how just when things seem to be going your way. A slight disaster or two wake you up to reality. But we still all have our jobs to do. Rather it’s being a caretaker for the ones you love or tightening up your belt to take care of yourself. It would be so easy to just give up. Often I dream of doing just that, freeing myself of the responsibility and living on a quiet beach selling seashells. But I wasn’t raised like that, while my family wasn’t perfect; my parents installed in us a sense of responsibility and honor. Traits that I carry with me to this very day. I guess I’m telling you this just to say, we all have our burdens and often they aren’t fair. My upcoming appointment serves as a reminded that with a touch of compassion, we can all make it through our troubled days.