Christmas is...
Just a short post-holiday, well, uh, post.
We went to visit Papa on Christmas eve and day. Trying to make the best of the situation, I had made braciolle and my soon-to-be-brother-in-law made his sauce and meatballs. We smashed it up into little pieces and brought some for Papa. In addition, my Mom had picked up his favorite dessert, Ricotta Pie, and we brought some of that as well. It was a true celebration of family as we all sat with him in his hospital room while he ate.
His roommate George (previously mentioned in the posts below) was getting ready to go home for a few hours in the evening to spend the evening with his daughters and his wife. George has Emphysema and has to take an oxygen tank with him when he leave Harborside. The tanks can only hold about 4 hours of air, so his forays into the outside world are rare and over pretty quickly. As anyone would be, he was very excited to see his family.
He said to me: "I've gotten into a little routine and got myself into the thought that the people here (the patients and staff) are my family. Tonight I'm going home to see my real family".
The next day we asked him how it was and he was so happy. His wife had no idea she would be seeing him and didn't think she would as they are staying at seperate nursing homes. When they saw each other they embraced, sat on the couch and cried.
I think I learned a lot about what family and Christmas are really about on this trip back home. It's one I'll remember for quite some time.
Back to L.A. tomorrow...
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