Be thankful for who, and what, you have in your life!!!

[Crazzy_Al]

Hug, kiss, say "I love you" to the ones you love, you never know when you'll lose them.

I tend to not talk too much about my family life here (because I spend too much time fucking around with most of you clowns) but I did want to ge a little serious and talk with you guys about something.

I just got a call from my mom, who is currently at Troy Beaumont Hospital, and she told me that she's going home tomorrow and will not have to spend Christmas away from her home. My mother had to have emergency surgery on Monday morning at 7:00am this week thanks to a severe blockage in her intestines. This was her SIXTEENTH major surgery in probably 15 years or so. (2 back surgeries, hystorectomy(sp), gastric bypass, the list goes on) The doctors think that this last surgery was due to the amount of scar tissue she has inside of her and the gastric bypass surgery from a couple years back. This last surgery was the one that a few of us, especially my mother, thought that we were going to lose her for good. I could go into why we thought that, and what had happened prior to this emergency surgery, but I'll spare you all, those details.

Thanks to my upbringing and events that have taken place over the past 5 years or so, I have snot spoken very much with my parents. Hell, 3 or so years ago we stopped talking all together and I did say a single word to either (not by phone or in person) for almost 2 years...and we live 3 miles down the road from each other at the time.

I lost a lot of time and possible memories with my family during these times, time and memories I can never get back. And they basically missed out on the first 2 years of my daughter's (their 1st grandchild) life. They can never get those times back either. And for what? Words that were said in the heat of the moment and while probably angry? I hate to preach to you guys, but at the same time, I'd hate for any of you to have to go through shit like this. I would have hated to lose my mom and not been able to say goodbye, or would have let her die knowing that this hurt and pain was still in all of us.

Over the past couple months we have all been trying to be a family again, and we've taken it one step at a time. But almost losing my mother has been an eye-opening experience for all of us and we're all going to try even harder to make things work and forget the past. Cherish what and who you have, you might not have them much longer...



Oh, and as far as my mother's health and recorvery is concerned, she NEVER be able to eat solid foods again...ever! Everything has to be blended to a pulp. We Italians are people who love our food, and to not be able to eat bread, cheese, pasta, etc is a nightmare. But, I guess trading those things for breath in our lungs isn't too bad of a deal.




Sorry to get sappy on you, but I wanted to pass on to those of you who might have family relation issues going on right now. Please do what you can to fix those, especially since this is the Christmas season...