Serious As A Heart Attack

So it's been determined that yes, my dad had a heart attack. He's doing well and he's looking good but I'm not sure when they're going to release him from the hospital. It could be tomorrow or they could have him stay until he's scheduled for an angiogram.

I'm not sure if my dad will be able to make sufficient changes so this doesn't happen again. Will this be a wakeup call that he heeds? Are there even things within his power to change that could make a difference? Who knows. I guess it's going to be a new chapter that he'll figure out as he goes.

It's made me appreciate more this man whom I don't always feel so close to but would like to. It reminds me of a song I always think of in connection with my dad:

The greatest man I never knew
Lived just down the hall
And everyday we said hello
But never touched at all
He was in his paper
I was in my room
How was I to know he thought I hung the moon
The greatest man I never knew
Came home late every night
He never had too much to say
Too much was on his mind
I never really knew him
And now it seems so sad
Everything he gave to us
took all he had
Then the days turned into years
And the memories to black and white
He grew cold like an old winter wind
Blowing across my life
The greatest words I never heard
I guess I’ll never hear
The man I thought could never die
S’been dead almost a year
He was good at business
But there was business left to do
He never said he loved me
Guess he thought I knew.

Now, our relationship isn't quite that distant. We talk and I know he loves me and he's even told me. But there's a barrier there, an awkwardness that time has barely lessened. We don't have very long conversations and they're rarely anything personal. But I do know he loves me and surely he knows that I love him.

Sometimes these wake-ups, though, make us realize there are some things we don't want to leave to chance and we don't want to leave too late.