I'm Back

We (my wife, two kids and myself) went to North Carolina (Wilmington) to visit my father-in-law. We timed things well as he was alert for most of our visit and he really got to enjoy the kids (and us I presume).

He is still alive, but I fear we have seen him alive for the last time. His cardiac issues will likely kill him before the cancer does, and each time the phone rings my wife and I wince.

Our trip was a study in contrasts:

The joy of seeing family vs the reason for our meeting.

The look on my son's face when he sees (and plays in) the ocean for the first time vs. when he sees his grandfather in a CCU.

Wilmington is in full spring mode with flowers everywhere. We are still shades of gray with some green just starting to show.

Them: restaurants galore (REAL Mexican, Thai, etc.). Us: Pizza.

Smokers everywhere.

2 Wheel drive pickups. No such beast around here!

Clean cars.

Low riders.

Tans.

You get the picture. My job is great, but the fact is that in my business you move to the job as there are VERY few in a given year. Why ANYONE would decide to start a village in a place that can go 21 days without sunlight is beyond me.

EMT class rolled along without me. I read while I was away and caught up on the quizzes when I returned. The one question I missed dealt with the difference between Stridor and Crowing. If anyone can explain it to me I would appreciate it as I still don't understand (if you can provide a mechanistic explanation that might help!). Big test on Monday.

I'm digging out and my guess is I'll be posting sporatically until things return to semi-normalcy. Sorry for the delay between posts. I have been negligent in reading ya'lls blogs during this period and need to catch up on what you all are up to.

DJ