Rant #2,471: Daddy's Home

I want to lead off this Friday's Rant by saying that miracles can happen, and if you need proof, my father is Exhibit A.

My father left the hospital on Wednesday afternoon and came home to stay, hopefully, forever.

He beat double pneumonia, which is a miracle in itself.

And he is home now, which was his request.

He remains very weak, has to be constantly watched, and there is no telling what his future is.

But he is home, if nothing else, and you cannot imagine how pleased--and maybe a little surprised--we are about this situation.

There was a point in his two-week stay at the hospital that we really did not know if he was going to make it, and I am not talking about going home. We didn't know if he would make it through the day, the night ... heck, we did not know if he would make it through the moment.

But this old Marine was still hard as nails, and he made it back to home plate, so to speak.

My mother has help in the home to take care of him, and everyone in our extended family is on the same page as far as his care.

Is this as good as he will be, or are we in for another miracle at this point?

I have absolutely no idea, none at all, but he is home, he is happy to be home--that is the only thing he asked for when he was in the hospital during his cognizant moments--and we are going to have to take it from there.

Yes, we had the chance to put him in a rehab facility, but he was so confused by being in the hospital--he had absolutely no clue where he was or why he was in there, and he became something of a problem in the hospital because of it--that we felt that at this point, there was no reason to further confuse him.

But if things become impossible, he could end up in a rehab facility somewhere down the line.

We have already had one miracle, and yes, I guess you can say that once you get one miracle, maybe you get a wee bit greedy.

But we want just one more miracle ... we want him to get better and to enjoy the rest of his life, whether it is one day, one month, one year or however long a time period God grants him.

He is a father, a grandfather, a husband, a brother and an uncle, and everyone in our family wants the best for him.

So "daddy's home ... daddy's home ... to stay."

Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.