1. I’m the crier in the family.
2. When he was in his 30s, before I was born, my dad almost died from appendicitis. He had no money, so my mom’s dad paid for his surgery.
3. I knew that my dad’s thyroid tumor had wrapped itself around the windpipe, but I didn’t know it had also grown around the aorta.
4. Evidently, Catholics aren’t Christians. I learned this from my brother, who went to a Christian supply store to buy rosaries, but they didn't have any.
5. Don’t go rosary shopping on the day of a rosary.
6. I used to have a hard time understanding why people have to die. I know it’s childish. Now I think I’ve figured it out – people have to die so that we can value life. My stepmother used to send updates about my dad’s health by e-mail. I wanted to know, but at the same time I dreaded getting those e-mails. Every day without an e-mail about his radiation or chemotherapy treatments was a good day. When you go through something like this, you learn to appreciate the little things. I learned that when my mom died, but in the 20 years since then, I had forgotten. I guess it was time to learn that lesson all over again.
