not too much going on lately.
my job is going well. i love the work, and my co-workers are great. i love being trusted to do the job i was hired to do, as opposed to my last job at the company that shall remain nameless.
tigger is doing okay. he’s still coughing some, but not as much as he was a few months ago. we haven’t had his teeth cleaned yet. he has to stop coughing completely before we can have that done. but overall he seems okay. he hasn’t had any seizures at all since he started taking phenobarbital. he wants to play sometimes and loves to go outside or for a ride. of course, we can’t let him play hard. but most of the time he’s happy just trotting around the backyard, sniffing things here and there and watching winston roll around in the grass.
my dad is sick. he’s lost over 30 pounds in the last few months, without trying or changing any of his habits. he didn’t need to lose weight to begin with, so now he looks sick. he’s starting to look old, something i never thought i’d say about my dad and something that really scares me to think. he’s only 55. he’s been to the doctor several times, taken a few rounds of antibiotics, had blood taken for tests (still waiting on the results), but so far no one knows what’s wrong.
he and mom are leaving for a two-week vacation to alaska on sunday. this is their dream vacation (vacations in the past consisted of trips to the mountains or beach, never anything more than a few hours’ drive from home), and i’m worried that he won’t be able to enjoy it. mom is very worried, too. she said he almost seems depressed. he’s lost interest in church, whereas a few months ago he played guitar in the church band, helped run the audio and video during the services, and went on motorcycle rides with a group of guys from church.
he’s exhausted all the time and has come home from work early multiple times in the last month. i’m sure work is stressing him out; he works for billy graham evangelistic association and they’ve had a lot going on with the library opening, ruth graham’s death, and planning for billy graham’s death. but stress can’t be the only thing causing the weight loss and exhaustion and other symptoms. dad’s been in stressful situations before — i mean, he used to run audio for ACC tournaments and panthers’ games, for pete’s sake. he weathered hurricane hugo in charleston outside under a sheet of plywood with the rest of the news crew. now that’s stress.
i’m very worried about him; we all are, but none of us knows what to do. hopefully the trip to alaska will help him de-stress and forget about work for awhile. hopefully he’ll be able to get some sleep and relax and just enjoy the scenery.
josh’s birthday is coming up. he won’t tell me what he wants, so i guess i’ll have to figure out what the heck to get him. he’s always been hard to shop for — we don’t have the same taste at all, so he hardly ever likes what i pick out. every now and then i surprise him, like last christmas when i got him a virginia tech shirt and sticker for his car (he got his master’s from VT in 2006). he wasn’t expecting that but he loved it. he’s rebuilding an old honda CRX right now so maybe i’ll get him something for the car.
it’s so cloudy and dreary here today. i think i’m going to go take a nice long nap.