The Men in my Life

Father's Day is this Sunday and I'm dedicating this entry to the two men who had a hand in raising me ~ my dad and my brother, and the man that is raising my child ~ my husband. I'm the baby in my family, I was born 15 years after my brother and my parents were in their mid thirties. My dad was always the provider for our family, working hard every day from 7:00-4:00 and home every day at 4:20. My dad worked at our towns Gas and Electric company and had a somewhat dangerous job working on electrical lines and transformers. Back in 1999 Eric and I had just gotten engaged and I was going to school full time and working part time. My brother had just had kidney stone surgery and had called me at work and asked that I go to the grocery for him that evening after work. I was pretty busy that day, had already been to school all morning and was working and had to rehearse that night back at school for a concert. I was not thrilled to have to grocery shop for my brother and decided looking at the clock that it was 4:20 and my dad should be home, maybe he could go to the grocery. I called home and no answer and tried again 10 minutes later. I knew that dad was rarely late so, I dialed again and listened to the messages on the answering machine. There was 1 message from a guy my dad works with who is also a neighbor saying that he was sorry for what happened today and that if we needed anything like getting my dad's truck home from work to just call and he would be happy to help. WHAT??!! I called my brother back and demanded to know what was going on and he told me that Dad had been electrocuted at work and that he was just trying to get me to his house so we could go to the hospital together. I left and when I arrived I had no memory from the time I left work until I got to the hospital. Dad was electrocuted with 14,000 volts of electricity. The electricity went through one hand across his chest and out the other hand and blew him off a tall Fiberglas ladder which they say saved him because they believe when he hit the ground the blow started his heart back. My dad came home 5 days later and I daily helped him dress and doctor the wounds on his fingers. He still takes medication because of the fried nerve endings and memory loss but, he is such a blessing. Now its been 7 years since the accident and although he took early retirement (he worked there for 32 yrs.) he is still alive and blesses our family with his stubbornness. What would Evan do without his Papaw? I love you daddy, your a miracle.
As I said my brother is 15 years my elder so, he was my cool dad. The one they trusted to leave me with but still let me get away with a little more than my parents would have. I always felt so "cool" riding around with him listening to "cool" music doing "cool" things. He has taught me so much about life and diversity and loving someone because of who they are and their individuality. I would not be who I am today without him and the life lessons he taught his little sis. My son absolutely loves him and has given him the nickname of "Munc" because when first learning his name he couldn't say Uncle Michael so Munc it became. Evan now knows that "Munc" is Uncle Michael but will correct you if you try to use that name instead of Munc. I hope that Munc knows that his little sister loves him and is so grateful for our relationship.
Eric and I married in 2000 and bought our first home in 2002. We were so excited and ready to start a family together. I got pregnant right away and we were so excited. It was October 2002 and within weeks after we found out I was pregnant I began to spot. We called the doctors and went for several ultrasounds and everytime they reassured us that everything was okay and they baby looked fine. At 12 weeks pregnant I woke up early for church and my water broke. Eric tried to convince me on the way to the hospital that everything was fine but, we both knew. I couldn't go home and stayed with my parents for a few days and Eric went home and put up anything that might remind me of the baby. I'm sure that was hard on him and I really think the miscarriage sent us both into a sort of depression for a while. About 6 months later we decided to try again and immediately became pregnant and had no complications throughout the entire pregnancy. Because of the babies size the doctors decided to induce labor on Feb. 5 but the baby didn't come until 2:20am on Feb. 6. We were thrilled, Evan Thomas was finally here and he was perfect. After family went home we were able to catch a few hours of sleep with our little one in the room with us and we just smiled, it was perfect, we were finally a family. The next morning at rounds they kept Evan longer than they had said and I sent Eric to find out why. When he returned I knew something was wrong and with tears in his eyes and a determined face he told me we had to get to the NICU that something was wrong. That was the beginning of our ride with having a child with a CHD. Tetralogy of Fallot, is the diagnosis that we were given. We were so scared, scared of losing him and scared of what life was going to be like. Two years later with 1 surgery and 2 cath's behind us we are still together as a family. There have been ups and downs, scary times and happy times but, we made it. Our lives are forever changed. Eric has always been there for me and Evan and for that I'm grateful. Thank you for being a wonderful husband and a wonderful father to our child I could not have made it without you. XOXO