2 Dad has his own parking spot in Heaven.
3 Whew.
4 I had started teaching on Friday morning and got word from Helene that Dad had passed. The bell had just wrung for my fourth period class, and I had JUST notified the Admin and Principal's Secretary that Dad was not doing well, but that I would try to stay at school all week and see him after first after school and then at night.
5 I decided to remain at school. Trying to throw a sub in didn't seem necessary. I would go up to the house later on and be with the family.
6 They were fine with it.
7 The rest of the day I stayed on pointe, tried to remain completely normal, and I'm pretty sure it worked.
8 Weirdly I was teaching The Pit and the Pendulum, so there was a bit of the macabre in all of it.
9 I didn't care. Rainbow orbs from different light sources danced around the room all day. Hummingbirds flew outside my window. Coincidences flew at me at a locomotive pace.
10 When I got to the house everyone was pretty chill. It really is a blur, but we definitely bonded all weekend.
11 We had to do a bunch of stuff too. We moved furniture, cleaned out all the medical stuff, gave the place a once-over, and watched hummingbirds.
12 Right when we were finishing up I looked on my old bed and saw a little book. I had to pick it up because I KNEW it would contain a coincidence.
13 The title of the book?
14 When God Winks: How the Power of Coincidence Guides Your Life.
15 My sister Linda gave that to my Mom years ago as a Mother's Day gift.
16 She grabbed it and randomly opened it to see what we would find.
17 She opened it to page...119.
18 She opened it to the age-old Lincoln-Kennedy coincidences.
19 Again with Lincoln.
20 I'm beginning a JFK unit today.
21 Might begin with that.
22 Linda wrote this to Mom:
Dear Mom,
On Mother's Day it is only appropriate that I let you know one of the most important gifts you gave your children. You always taught us to have a positive attitude and believe that every event in our lives has a purpose. You not only taught this to us, you modeled it each day, just as you are doing now. Enjoy this book as it confirms the beliefs and attitude you shared with us. I love you always,
Love, Linda
23 At the end of the book, on page 153 (numerologically a nine if you add the digits) it has this to say:
"More often than not, little God winks, like the big ones
are simply confirmation that you're on the right track."
24 I buy that.
25 <yawn>
26 Exhausting weekend.
27 I think finding that little book meant that Dad landed safely AND that he got his own parking spot.
28 And the best thing was probably this: the pretty nurse who greeted him at the gates saw to it he didn't have to co-pay.
29 It's probably one of the last ones he ever saw.
30 As Helene would say, "What a dish!"
31 Or as Dad himself once said after he ate himself sweetly to the hospital, AND I had to register him and all (Was I mad? He snuck all sorts of sweets past me and his blood sugar didn't even register! AND I had to explain to this gal that he had snookered me into buying stuff because he was going to have guests the next day! I was a rookie, just so you know.) he got to his spot, looked up at me and said, "Say, that nurse is pretty well put together!"
32
33 So him.
34 Always with the manners and politeness.
35 That is precisely why he got his own parking space.
36 When Dad took his tumble, he cut his arm and it bled profusely. I had applied direct pressure, like the good former Boy Scout I was.
37 When he got to the hospital that time, another pretty nurse came in and picked up his arm. "We're just checking your skin, Mr. Harrington."
38 "Oh," he said. "It's all over me."
39 The guy is a caution.
40 That's why he will be remembered for the ages.
41 He never for a second thought he was going anywhere.
42 He shouted lunch dates to his best friend Bernie.
43 I'm pretty sure he saw the last Niner game and figured he better get upstairs, park, and get those guys back on track.
44 Interestingly the team that fought so hard yesterday only to lose by an ear hair were the Saints.
45 That's how Dad rolls.
46 That field goal was supposed to hook.
47 It didn't. It took a duck flop and tumbled through the goal posts.
48 Somebody had to turn the Niners around.
49 Angels in the End Zone.
50 I'll have to look at the film.
51 Loves me my Dad. Gonna miss you pal.
52 He always called me "pal."
53 And we were/are pals.
54 So yeah. Gonna miss you pal.
55 I guess that's my tribute.
56 Gottago.
57 Got to arrange parking and stuff.
58 See you again.
59 Peace.
~H~
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