Daddy's Little Girl...

I grew up being the only girl, with three brothers and maybe that's why I was daddy's little girl. I was born with a congenital hip problem, where it wasn't fully developed when I was born. This resulted in me wearing a body cast until I was about two years old. Again, maybe this was another reason for my daddy to favor me, I don't know.

Fast forward to 1995, my dad had a major stroke while visiting family on Father's Day. As a result, my dad hasn't been able to talk or walk since then. He lives in a nursing home in Davis, California. Although life is nothing like it used to be, believe it or not, he seems to be content. He has lots of friends at the home and most importantly, they take very good care of him.

I have been asking lots of friends and family whether or not I should tell my dad about my cancer. Some have suggested that I wear a wig, some have said to wear a hat. We've even wondered how much he would comprehend. Well...yesterday we finally went for the visit. I couldn't put it off any longer. We walked right in and he was there in the lobby, looking good, just taking it all in. When he took one look at us, he immediately smiled and started motioning for us to come over. He initially looked at me funny, like there was something different about my head, but I laughed and kissed him. I wore a hat. After about five minutes, I couldn't stand it any longer and just took my hat off and grabbed for his hand to touch my head. Although he didn't want anything to do with touching my head, he laughed and made a face to imply that "so what, you have no hair". I proceeded to tell him how good I was feeling and that although I have cancer, I was kicking it's butt. He liked that. We went back to his room for a nice visit and although I tried to mention the illness a couple times, he really didn't seem to care about it. At one point he shook his finger at me as if to say, "you'd better fight like hell" and I promised him I would.

"Courage is doing what you must
when doing what you must
is the hardest thing of all" by the Spirit of Hope

You see, although I didn't want to tell my dad, I knew that I couldn't put it off any longer. The only thing I feared was that he would be sad that he couldn't help me out, make me all better. However, since I looked healthy, I don't think it was an issue and it ended up being a nice visit with my dad.

Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie