Tag: Parenting

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Be The Best.

‘Happy’ Birthday

Family Pics, October 2007

Words are funny…sometimes not ‘ha ha’ funny.

Happy Birthday.  That’s the greeting.

I remember my birthday back in October.

Good day.  VERY tough day.

Ingrid’s birthday is today.

She’s had a good day, but a tough day too.

The birthday wishes have been wonderful.

Max found the perfect card for his Mom.

It says:

Mom,

Some years are better than others,

and this past one

has been especially difficult for you

and for all of us who love you.

I understand

that you may not feel

like a big birthday celebration

but I want you to know

that today and every day

I quietly celebrate you.

I celebrate your faith,

your courage,

and your grace.

You are beautiful, Mom.

I am honored to be your child.

And I wish you a birthday

filled with quiet comforts,

loving gestures,

and sweet, sweet blessings.

——————

Those words combined with Max’s handwritten comments almost distracted Ingrid totally from my present of gift cards from the gas station.  (…now you don’t think I’m THAT dumb do you?…WAIT…don’t answer that.)

Here’s something else that’s a little fun.

I put this card in front of me to write this post and realized that MOM upside down is WOW.

I’ll tell you something.

When this Mom’s life got turned upside down this past year…she was WOW.

Incredibly gracious.

Incredibly kind.

Incredibly loving.

Incredibly considerate.

Incredibly broken but somehow strong as we’ve moved together along this path of our new world.

‘Happy’ Birthday.

Yes.  I’m happy to celebrate who you are and what you mean to our sons, our families, our workplace, our friends and all the other people you’ve connected with on this journey.

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Be The Best.

Dad and the too fast kiss.

When my Dad was diagnosed with colon cancer a couple of weeks ago it was a shock to the system…particularly his system but those shocks were felt throughout the family and circle of supporters.

I showed you a video of me and Dad the morning of his surgery and our walk together…me in Chris’ shoes and Dad wearing Chris’ trucker hat.

The surgery went well, but just as Dad was to be released yesterday, the Docs found some leakage and fluid in the abdomen and he had to go for a second surgery.

He is doing ok today and getting stronger.

Dad was in the hospital just a year and a half ago getting a new hip.  In true Dad form he wrote a 4 page list of 32 points called, ‘Humor, and reflections relating to Hip surgery, which took place January 9, 2009′.

This didn’t really surprise me as Dad had completed a list a nine years earlier entitled, ’70 things to do now that I’m 70’.

Love it.

This is a guy who ‘retired’ at 65 and then decided to get some more training to become an ESL instructor even though he holds several degrees already.  He made the trek from Abbotsford to Douglas College for several months to make that happen.

I am fully expecting another 32 point reflections document and a list of ’80 things to do now that I’m 80′ when that birthday comes around in February.

I’ll leave you with this little video tonight.

My Mom and Dad have really shown us how to face adversity.  They haven’t panicked or asked why or become angry.  Instead they’ve made decisions with their family, acknowledged their belief in their strong faith and continued to use humor and warmth in their relationships.

You can see what happens when Dad received a ‘too fast kiss’ from Mom.  Poor Mom…we like to tease her!  Check out this little bit of fun shot just before we took Dad to the hospital for surgery number 1 last Friday.

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Be The Best.

Trucker hats, running shoes and walking the new normal.

First, a thank-you to all of you for the thoughts and prayers and support for my Dad going into surgery today.

The Docs were pleased with how things went and Dad (Jake) will be spending the next 5 days or so in the hospital getting stronger.

He was already joking with the nurses with some bad puns tonight…hmmm…wonder where I get that from…

So what do you do before surgery?  Go for a walk of course and get some exercise even if you haven’t eaten in 2 days.  Of course you do….if your name is Jake Friesen.

We had a great walk today and I realized that Dad was wearing the trucker hat Ingrid and I had given him from Chris.  This was Chris’ favourite hat at the time of his passing and his Grandpa was the logical person to wear it.  If you haven’t yet, you can see Chris trying it on Grandpa last New Years and the related blog post.

I also was wearing my hand-me-up sneakers from Chris that I wrote about the other week.

So here we were having a little stroll and Chris was with us as Dad prepared for his fight with cancer and surgery later that day.

Couldn’t imagine a better Be The Best moment.

And as I put at the end of the little video, anytime is a good time.

In other words, anytime is a GOOD time…ie, even though our family is together here to support Dad through his battle (and Mom with hers), we can still have fun, laugh and get a little exercise.

The other meaning of course is that ANYTIME is a good time to go for a walk, have a chat, build a relationship, play tennis, go skiing, go hiking, play scrabble, have dinner with family, play ping-pong or anything else you can think of.

I loved that Chris joined us today too.  Love ya kid.