My Most Avid Reader

I have one person who reads my blog religiously, he never makes a comment on it, but I always get a phone call comment. I hear "you really made me laugh," "when are you going to write a new blog?" "I can't believe all the things you are doing," or my favorite "you really are a good writer" (I'll take all the compliments I can get). This reader is my father-in-law, Ralph. As you can see by the photo, he isn't in the best of health and in fact about 5 years ago he was air lifted down here and things didn't look too good for him, but he is definitely a fighter.
A year ago last January my mother-in-law was air lifted down here and things didn't look too good for her either. She was in ICU for over a month and then in hospitals or rehab facilities for another two months and during those three months, I had the privilege to have Ralph stay at my house and take him to the hospital each day.

We got our routine down, 20 minutes to downtown Phoenix (thank heavens for car pool lanes), drop Ralph at the door, he got his wheelchair, I parked the car, I pushed him up to ICU and we checked to see how Colleen was doing that day. Later, we'd go downstairs for lunch (gotta love that hospital food), go back up and visit some more and then I pushed him backed downstairs, went and got the car picked him up and we headed home.

During that time I got to know Ralph much better. I saw him worry over his wife of almost 60 years, patting her hand telling her everything would be alright; reassuring himself as much as her I think. We thrilled over every bit of good news together and worried when things did go well. We laughed when Colleen (due to drugs and lack of sleep) told us she was going to Montana or that the Chinese grandma came visiting or that she spent the night freezing in the fairgrounds parking lot. We cowered when she pointed and shook her finger at us and were puzzled when we couldn't make out her handwriting (she was on a respirator for several weeks and had a tracheotomy and couldn't talk). Although it was a very stressful time, I received great blessings by being with Ralph every day.

Before my father-in-law got sick he was an extremely hard worker and it nearly killed him to watch us work and not be able to help, so we found jobs for him. I would pick oranges and drop them on the ground and Ralph would go around picking them up - that was quite a big chore for him. He loved to juice them and that was an intense workout. But his hardest job was to walk down to the corner and back each day in 6 minutes. I don't know that he ever made that one.

In February, Preston decided that he would trim our neighbors' trees that came over on to our property and Ralph was right there supervising the whole time. Once Preston learned to listen to him the tree trimming went much easier. He didn't have to put in near as much effort to get the job done if he followed Ralph's directions - experience really does make a difference.
While he was here last year I also took him to doctors and dentists and teased him about what a baby he is. I couldn't tell him when his appointments were until that day because he would get himself all worked up. He listened to me ramble on for hours - I had a captive audience. I complained, explained, cried, worried about my kids and my family, dreamed about vacations and he got to see just how weird I am. The nicest thing is is that he still seems to like me!

After three months my mother-in-law was finally able to go home and since then Ralph has called me at least every week, sometimes daily - just to talk to me. Of course he would comment about my blog and ask how everything was but Garth gets a bit jealous because Ralph calls me more than he does him.

Well, last Tuesday he was air lifted down here again (my in-laws like to make it a big deal when they come down I guess) and once again things didn't look to good. He was in ICU for 4 days until they figured out what was wrong with him this time. It seems that his heart is beating irregularly and he will have surgery tomorrow to fix that. The doctor's say everything should be fine; there will be two very simple invasive surgeries and he should go home on Tuesday. We are sure praying for that.

At the end of June Ralph has two boys coming home from their missions. Kyle has been in Oklahoma and Jason, my son has been in Colombia. I know they are both very anxious to see their grandpa just as he is anxious to see them.
Indeed I feel very blessed to have married into a great family and to have a father-in-law who I know I could always turn to for anything and at any time. He has been a blessing in my life thus far and I pray for many more years to come.