Lessons

I think people always try to find something positive to take away from a tragedy. We all say to ourselves "What is the lesson I am supposed to learn from this?".
I feel like I cherished life and my loved ones before my daddy died; I knew it was important to be sure I said everything I would want people to know so I had no regrets when they passed. I did this. I have no regrets. So where's MY lesson? My brother has begun looking for a new job...an 8-5 career that will allow him to spend more time and energy with his family...he found a lesson.
It took me a few days to get over the initial anger about the situation to finally discover my lesson...and in my opinion, it's a very sad lesson to have to learn, but here is it: People don't always live to be 80 years old. I know, I know, seems pretty obvious, but think about it, honestly. Personally, I have FIVE grandparents still living...yes, 5...all in their 70's...they were all able to watch their grandchildren grow up to become adults, they even have great-grandchildren to enjoy.
When 'M' passed away last year I made it a point to visit my grandparents often and to take lots of pictures of them with Riley, because I finally realized that they weren't going to be around forever. But what I didn't realize is that my dad, my mom, my husband, my brother, my friends...that they aren't guaranteed a long life. I guess I have known that death is a part of life, it's inevitable, but what I never really 'believed' is that growing old is not promised to us. So my lesson is to cherish my time with EVERYONE, not just my grandparents, or Chris' grandparents, but everyone. Do not take life for granted; tomorrow is not promised, no matter how young a person is.
Another lesson I want to share with you all is about heart attacks...or at least what I learned from my dad's...hopefully you will never need this information, but it can't hurt to know.
When I got to my parent's house that Sunday evening I went outside to say hi to Daddy and he was leaning over the ice cream maker pouring in the rock salt. He was sweating profusely. I even mentioned it, but he and Chris just thought it was due to the heat and humidity. I didn't think it was that hot, but I didn't know how long he'd been outside in it. Shortly after, he went inside and took off his shirt, I thought he was just hot. He went into the living room and was reaching up his arms like he was stretching. I had no clue he was having chest pains, but mom says he was. He moved from one couch to another a couple of times, just trying to stretch out and get comfortable. I finally realized what seemed to be going on so I went over and took his pulse. At the time it felt fast, but after doing some research it appears it was in the normal range. After I took his pulse he asked for Aspirin. Who knows if he was just being cautious or if he knew then what was going on, either way they didn't have any aspirin because mom can't take it. Let me just say that during this time his arm did not seem to be hurting him, I think that's a common misconception that has been widly publicized and it doesn't always happen. I don't think his heart felt like it was 'squeezing' either, something else we hear a lot, I think it felt like he had pulled a muscle in his chest (which he had done before). He decided he wanted to go to the emergency room, so he walked outside to put his shirt back on and just collapsed on the patio. Mom and I performed CPR for the 5 minutes it took to call 911 and get the paramedics there, but they could never get his heart beating on it's own again. He did make it to the hospital, but they tried about 3 different things and nothing worked, and finally they had to let him go.
So why do I share this with you? Because, anyone can experience a heart attack, they are more common than we want to believe yet many of us don't know how to recognize one. Well, now I know, at least more than I used to, and I can ASSURE you all that I will not hesitate to call 911 IMMEDIATELY if I ever see anyone experiencing anything similar to what I witnessed a week ago. With my dad it was heavy sweating, difficult breathing, and chest pain that felt like a muscle strain, but a main point is that it was 'wrong', ya know, he felt 'wrong'. I think we're often worried about calling 911...maybe we're thinking, "What if it's not a heart attack, what if it's just a panic attack or pulled muscle or something?"...but what if it IS a heart attack?! I'm not saying that calling 911 could have saved my daddy, I'm not saying it couldn't have; but I'm also not blaming myself or anyone for what happened to him. What I AM saying is that maybe this information will make a difference in someone else's life...better safe than sorry.