Father and Son, what a wonderful moment in life when your “family name” will be carried forth. Very macho, extremely testosterone like, and definitely worthy of high fives, chest pumps, forearm bashes, and other manly ways of a congratulatory “you did it”. Sorry Lindsay, nothing against you P-nut!

To Jackie,

As your father, mentor, role model, friend, and foremost Dad (we’ll get back to that later) I was  entrusted by your birth to help guide you along the path of what I refer to as “Male-Dom”. I, like you, have had both positive and negative influences in my life. I, like you, have had great colleagues, friends and family that helped shape my life. Your venture from newborn to young adulthood flew, quite frankly! You fortunately have morphed into a great combo of mother-father and have had what I would call the best sibling role model one could ask for.

Life was cruising along, we experienced many adventures as father-son, all of which are too many to list. You follow your gut and enroll at BU, your parents alma-mater. You contemplate pledging, you find a major and are enjoying college life. ( no surprise to us) Then your Mom and I get “the call”. Unlike any feeling I wish upon any parent, we rush to your side at Geisinger! Life has a funny way of slowing down, almost to a trickle. All those “father-son” adventures come flooding back.

I wish, like all, that we could rewind the morning of Feb. 23rd. Not possible! So we sit, watch and wait for you to heal! As prayers rain down (pour down) we pray and hope to see those awesome hazel eyes. You see, the blessing was that you were here with us and that was, quite frankly, a miracle in itself!

You endure a monstrous road back, details that Mom has logged in the blog. Now we are here, day 85!

Were do I start? You have shown incredible strength, courage, fortitude, and resiliency. You have experienced more than any 19 yr. old should in a lifetime let alone an 85 day period, but you show a tremendous will. No words, some hand signals, lots of laughs and just recently we’ve cried together and then there was that spoken word…”Dad”! You did say milk and mom, first. That’s ok! I had promised you when you last got sick that my next tears will be that of joy. I have to admit that the day you first showed us your cry I may have broken that promise. Nonetheless you’re sitting on the PT table and I dare you to say “Dad”! You make eye contact and for all to hear you say “Dad”! My boy, my son, my bud, and my new hero! Crying and sobbing, we both hugged. I told you that they were tears of joy. I quickly wiped my eyes and set sights on getting you to laugh!

They say everything happens for a reason, and truthfully, I have always believed that God has plans and no sense arguing with that. We have seen an unbelievable outpouring of thoughts and prayers. I know you’ve gained strength from that, as we have. You are my hero and beloved son, and I feel blessed to have you here today! I will shed more tears of joy, I believe that. Our marathon continues, I will be with you every step (as many others) and we will finish this together!

I love you!

Dad