I reported to work in the afternoon as usual at the school where I work. I was called outside to help keep one side wall of the bus barn from blowing over due to one of the worst, one of  the stiffest winds I have ever had to deal with. I was scared the entire bus barn was going to topple over on all of us. A bunch of us managed to move some stuff aside so we could deal with the problem. We managed to tie a heavy rope to a cross beam, and left it, some of us to go home, some to return to the  rest of our work day. Me, I had no idea what was in store.

  Shortly after I got back inside, the school receptionist, Paula, called out softly to me. I barely heard her at first; I mean how does one tell you, your dad is in the hospital? He'd been in there before for a variety of seemingly minor occurences. At least they were minor in comparison to a heart attack, which was what was happening to my father this time. I drove the dozen miles, through the terrible wind, scared not only what might be happening to Dad but of being blown off the road, and ended up to Mendota Commuity Hospital, which is where I found out what was happening.

  Dad needed go to a bigger hospital, Rockford Memorial, but with the wind, he could not be flown in a medivac chopper. So my brother Craig drove my mother and I the hour and a half drive as we followed the ambulance, although I think it was longer in the wind. To be honest, I am not sure the wind would let Craig drive as fast as he wanted to. :) We found out later, Dad was in unstable condition the whole time. Pretty lucky there was no permament damage to his heart. Who knows, maybe even a miracle!

  The cardiologist had to do multiple angioplasties, which are the procedures which insert very small baloons into the artery and inflate them to keep the artery open. But it kept closing, so in the dead of night [maybe a bad choice of words, :) but still apropos], Dad had to undergo QUADRUPLE-bypass surgery.

  While in the waiting area, you probably couldn't tell by Dad's family, consisting of Mom, Craig, my other brother Mark, his wife Sina, Craig's daugthers Beth [and her friend Pam} and Lisa [and her fiance James, now her husband, and a great addition to the family he is! :) ] and myself, and the conversations we were having, what was going on, although we all got just a little emotional and scared at first. I think Dad wouldn't have been helped going into surgery, met by a sobbing blubbering family.

 A lot of us had a come a long way to be there [I for one took the rest of the day off from work, of course, and the next day, too, to man the home phones in case anyone who wasn't there the previous day, didn't know what was going on.], and even if Dad didn't want to say he appreciated it [that would be Dad for you!  :) ], I think he did, and it helped him.

  The next days were a little interesting, what with Dad's depression and other [apparently temporary] personality changes, but he ended up attending Lisa's wedding, among other events. Still don't think he is any hurry to go back to work full-time, although he does like to stick his head in the store from time to time, to tell the staff when they're doing something wrong! :)

  As I write this, it is now the 30th of June 2007, and Dad is retired but still pedalling his bicycle  around town, wearing a helmet that makes him look like an alien from Star Trek. [I kid you not! :) ] So it seems things are back to normal, although I wouldn't be too sure this family was EVER normal! :) Are things better? I hope so. I hope Dad realizes that he has a family that  loves and appreciates him, and a little town that does, too. Thanks, Earlville!

 And thanks to Mendota Community Hospital, and Rockford Memorial Hospital, too, for their fine care.

  Oh, and by the way, the bus barn survived, too.