February 22, 2009

He called and left a message for me: “Yeah it’s me hon. I just wanted to call you and talk to you for a minute. Nothing important. Sorry it’s been so long. I ain’t felt too good the last week or two. I know I should have at least called you and left a message. I’m sorry. Talk to you when I can. Love you and miss you. Bye.”

I called him back and his voice sounded different. He sounded calm. He let me know he finally got a hearing for his disability case. He was so excited. We talked about how long we had waited for this day. March 11, we would finally receive some good news. He finally felt like he had done something good. He was going to be able to provide for me. He kept insisting on buying me a truck. “I don’t need a truck Dad.” I was constantly telling him that.

He was going to the doctor the next day for his PET scan to get the results of his cancer treatment. I could tell he was nervous so I cracked some jokes to make him laugh. Then I let him know I was coming down for the weekend and we were going to spend Sunday together. He was so excited!

We made plans to take a small road trip. We were going to ride gravel roads all day and talk. I was looking so forward to it. He asked if we could bring the rifle and find a deer and I had to kindly remind him that there would be nothing illegal taking place on our trip.

Before we hung up I asked him if he could find a bible. He said he would look for one. I told him when he got scared or aggravated to read The Lord’s Prayer. I read it with him over the phone just before we hung up. He said, “If I read it every time I get aggravated, I’ll be reading it 24 hours a day.” I told him to repeat it however many times it took.

We enjoyed one last laugh and he told me he loved me. I told him I would call him tomorrow and check on him.