These past few days have been harder, things are progressing quickly and once we get into any solid routine or when we finally feel like we have a grasp on what is going on things change and we're back at the beginning again. Times of grief and pain are interrupted with times of extreme hilarity, and I mean extreme hilarity. Fun times. The three of us walking around with Tom while he is laughing at how awkward we all are and his laughter makes us laugh and while we laugh there are moments when we forget. Laughter makes things better, that's for sure. Other times we'll be sitting around, reading an exceptionally emotional blog or an especially poignant card/letter and in the middle of all the sadness my goofy dad will bust out with something really funny and make things ok again. He has always had that ability and I'm not at all surprised that he has it even in the heart of all of what he is dealing with.
Yesterday KGO Radio did a 45 minute show about my dad--what he's dealing with now and what he's done in his life. My dad pioneered God Talk Radio back in the '70s. It is a show on KGO 810 on Sunday mornings in the Bay Area and it featured long discussions about religion and spirituality and my dad managed to make it non-confrontational and non-judging back in the day. My mom was interviewed and my brother and I got to talk about my dad's message and his work. My mom's strength continues to impress me and her example seems to strengthen me as well.
Our Father's Day celebration was a difficult, emotionally draining day for all of us. It did, however, end with one of my all-time most favorite scenes: The four of us in my parents' bedroom, Tom in bed, my mom sitting on the floor beside the bed holding his hand & his other hand reached out resting lovingly on top of her head, my brother standing next to my mom facing my dad and me sitting on the bed next to where he lay. The three of us sang songs to him, "Desert Silv'ry Blue" stands out for me because my parents have always sung that song together beautifully and no sound can ever compare to the sonance of their voices singing it together but we did our best to give that back last night.
Also, last night at 11 pm my best friend since kindergarten gave birth to a new baby boy named Aksel Hunter Norman (Aksel is Norwegian for "Father of Peace"). Nichole and Jerad named him Hunter after my family, which is a huge honor. I went to Seattle for a couple hours today to see the little guy and on my way down I kept hearing "It's a miracle with a heartbeat when all is said and done" over and over in my head (a line from one of my dad's Christmas songs) and it got me thinking that in light of all the hard times we're facing there are new amazing things popping up all over the place. Kinda like how "Angels Might be Anywhere at All". The fact that Aksel is here now makes this more tolerable, it has given me something to look forward to and I am so happy for the proud parents. My dad seems to enjoy hearing about the little guy, too, so it is a blessing that I get to share that with my dad and Aksel will always know that he has a special place with my father.
Jim G was here for a few hours this evening, he is a great friend of my dad's and their friendship dates back to Union Seminary many years ago. We had a good visit and my dad remembered most of the stories Jim told. Aeden pointed this out earlier tonight: It is so good to hear all of the stories of different times in my dad's life from so many people. I feel like I know my dad really well but there is so much that I didn't know completely and it is fun to hear about specific times of his life, like before I knew him and when he was my age, from so many different perspectives. It is a huge gift to our whole family to get to listen to the stories, we share the same love for stories and story telling that my dad does so it seems all-too appropriate to get to hear these wonderful pieces of his past now. It's just one more gift he is giving us. He still gives the best hugs and he still has that infectious smile and he is still humming along with the songs he knows so things are still alright now. He is constantly surrounded by the quilts and angels and cards and songs and rocks and flowers and "Secrets for the seed song guy" and pockets and chocolates and poems and music and ice cream and stories and animals and family and... Love. We talked to a nurse briefly today and she told Tom very clearly that his soul knows what to do during this process and he nodded, smiled and sat back. He seemed comforted by that statement--I know I was. In the meantime we're going to keep singing and laughing and crying and holding each other as much as we can.
Yesterday KGO Radio did a 45 minute show about my dad--what he's dealing with now and what he's done in his life. My dad pioneered God Talk Radio back in the '70s. It is a show on KGO 810 on Sunday mornings in the Bay Area and it featured long discussions about religion and spirituality and my dad managed to make it non-confrontational and non-judging back in the day. My mom was interviewed and my brother and I got to talk about my dad's message and his work. My mom's strength continues to impress me and her example seems to strengthen me as well.
Our Father's Day celebration was a difficult, emotionally draining day for all of us. It did, however, end with one of my all-time most favorite scenes: The four of us in my parents' bedroom, Tom in bed, my mom sitting on the floor beside the bed holding his hand & his other hand reached out resting lovingly on top of her head, my brother standing next to my mom facing my dad and me sitting on the bed next to where he lay. The three of us sang songs to him, "Desert Silv'ry Blue" stands out for me because my parents have always sung that song together beautifully and no sound can ever compare to the sonance of their voices singing it together but we did our best to give that back last night.
Also, last night at 11 pm my best friend since kindergarten gave birth to a new baby boy named Aksel Hunter Norman (Aksel is Norwegian for "Father of Peace"). Nichole and Jerad named him Hunter after my family, which is a huge honor. I went to Seattle for a couple hours today to see the little guy and on my way down I kept hearing "It's a miracle with a heartbeat when all is said and done" over and over in my head (a line from one of my dad's Christmas songs) and it got me thinking that in light of all the hard times we're facing there are new amazing things popping up all over the place. Kinda like how "Angels Might be Anywhere at All". The fact that Aksel is here now makes this more tolerable, it has given me something to look forward to and I am so happy for the proud parents. My dad seems to enjoy hearing about the little guy, too, so it is a blessing that I get to share that with my dad and Aksel will always know that he has a special place with my father.
Jim G was here for a few hours this evening, he is a great friend of my dad's and their friendship dates back to Union Seminary many years ago. We had a good visit and my dad remembered most of the stories Jim told. Aeden pointed this out earlier tonight: It is so good to hear all of the stories of different times in my dad's life from so many people. I feel like I know my dad really well but there is so much that I didn't know completely and it is fun to hear about specific times of his life, like before I knew him and when he was my age, from so many different perspectives. It is a huge gift to our whole family to get to listen to the stories, we share the same love for stories and story telling that my dad does so it seems all-too appropriate to get to hear these wonderful pieces of his past now. It's just one more gift he is giving us. He still gives the best hugs and he still has that infectious smile and he is still humming along with the songs he knows so things are still alright now. He is constantly surrounded by the quilts and angels and cards and songs and rocks and flowers and "Secrets for the seed song guy" and pockets and chocolates and poems and music and ice cream and stories and animals and family and... Love. We talked to a nurse briefly today and she told Tom very clearly that his soul knows what to do during this process and he nodded, smiled and sat back. He seemed comforted by that statement--I know I was. In the meantime we're going to keep singing and laughing and crying and holding each other as much as we can.
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atimeforsharing- Tom Hunter Family