Bumps in the road

It's been roughly a week since I have been able to spend time in the garden. I have been spending my days in the emergency room of our local hospital, patiently waiting for the doctors to locate the source of internal bleeding that my 74 year old father has been experiencing. It has been a very stressful week, to say the least.

I developed an aversion to hospitals and doctor's offices after three years of cancer visits with Mom. To be back again was traumatic, especially given the circumstances. Not only did I feel helpless and frightened that I was about to loose Dad, the proximity of tragedy sent me to cry in the bathroom more than once. Listening to the family of the woman who had just had a stroke, behind that thin privacy curtain to our left, broke my heart. I felt their sense of desperation as they coaxed her to open her eyes, to speak, to squeeze a finger.

In the end, we were lucky. They were able to deal with Dad's bleeding, and (fingers crossed) the danger is over for now.  I am so grateful for another day with Dad, who  is a wonderful person. He will turn 75 next week, and I will meet his girlfriend for the first time-at his birthday party, not his funeral as I had feared.

I returned to my garden this morning to find that the daisies are beginning to bloom.

I even spotted a few lady bugs, who were a little camera shy.

This week should be better than the last.