Valium from God

Tomorrow is the day of departure. Matt, Mom, Dad and I will hop in our rented minivan to make the trip to Duke University to have dad's brain tumor removed. Our bags are packed (ok, I'll confess, I'm not packed yet, but Mom and Dad damn sure are!). Hotel reservations for the days before the surgery are set, as well as appointment times for tests before Dad is admitted to the hospital. Dad's got a new haircut (I cut it myself and I have to say it's simply marvelous), my legs are shaved and the MP3 player is charged. It's time to go.

Although this is a trip that I would rather we didn't have to make, I am ready. We have had over a month of anticipation of Dad's surgery and it has not been easy. Now finally the time has come to actually move forward towards progress and get out of the stagnant state that the entire family has been left in. We are all looking forward to getting this show on the road.

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I had a spiritual moment the other day. Some would call it an epiphany, others a message from God. My uncle Wayne called it "one of those times when God drops you a valium." I was in the minivan, singing along with Elton John's "Original Sin", thinking very deeply about something very important that has nothing to do with Dad or his well being. Traffic clogged up and I ended up sitting on a bridge that crossed over the interstate. Traffic wasn't moving in the lane next to me either, and I looked beside me and saw a man on a motorcycle. His beard and hair looked identical to my Dad's new haircut, and he was grinning ear to ear for some reason. He was wearing and old helmet like the one Dad had when I was a kid. He never looked at me, but when I saw him I had a wave of warmth and contentment that flooded over me. I had an absolute certain feeling that Dad would be back on his motorcycle soon and that like Bob Marley says "every little thing is gonna be alright now." God dropped me a valium, to help me calm down, and see that I'm ok, and we'll be ok. I also instantly felt a feeling of resolution and peace about the problem that I was thinking about before I saw the man on the bike. It was one of those moments that are too rare in life

I am not into organized religion, but I am a spiritual person. I was not alone in the van. One or more of my angels was with me. I would like to thank everyone for their prayers and thoughts. Please continue to pray for Dad and for the angel or angels to stay with us so that one day someone will be stopped in traffic beside my Dad, on his Harley, grinning ear to ear.