Description: There's something to be thankful for in each day.
Three years ago last night, I was driving back to Corona from the Kaiser Permanente medical center on Sunset Blvd. I’d left my mom there because she felt like staying with my dad. It was the one night during his 19 days in the hospital that she really felt the need to be there.
The hospital sleep apnea machine was so loud and grating that he didn’t stand a chance of getting the good rest he needed, so I drove from LA to Corona to get his own machine and pack my mom an overnight bag, then back to LA, then back to Corona to get some sleep. We had been at the hospital early that morning, and the daily trek to and from was starting to catch up to us.
When I returned to the hospital, my dad — who had been in and out of alertness and sleep all day — attentively opened his eyes and asked me how the traffic had been. These moments were becoming further apart, but he would still amaze us with the way he’d go from dozing off to being completely present and in the moment. I told him the drive was fine, but I knew he was using energy he didn’t have to make conversation. I told him to rest — that he was in the right unit for recovery, and that he needed to get s