I haven't talked about this in a while, and some people have been asking. On April 29th, my dad is having open heart surgery. They are repairing all of his mitrovalves and repairing or replacing his aortic valve. They won't know if it needs to be replaced until they open him up. It's been scary lately, and I've been thinking a lot about possible outcomes. But it wasn't until I heard about a conversation he had with my sister that I was sad. My dad is superman. And he called my sister to say if there's anything he can do for her before she graduates college to let him know, because he might not be around. He's thinking about his own mortality. And I wonder how scared he is. I wonder what he will be thinking Thursday morning when we wish him luck and they take him to the OR. By himself. Alone. What will go through his head? How scared is he? Because, you know, he may not wake up. That's hard for me to think about, but I can't imagine what he's going through. I'm flying home Friday and will be there until May 2, so I'll get to spend a lot of time with him before the operation. And I'll be there the two critical days afterwards. People at work keep saying how nice it must be to have a whole week off work. And, to tell you the truth, I'd really rather be there. I'd rather this wasn't happening at all.

I love my dad.

Very much.