My thoughts are all over the place. Not sure where they will land.

My parents have lived in the same house for 56 years. It is the same house where my sister, brother, and I were raised. Lying here alone, waiting for sleep to overtake my overactive thoughts, in the same room where I was raised, is a little like being in a time machine.

My young self could not imagine my much older self lying here tonight with my mom, who is sleeping alone, snoring the night away in her bedroom next to mine, while my dad is spending the night sleeping alone in a room at the rehabilitation center across town, where he has been recovering from the stroke he had on the 14th of last month. This is the longest my parents have slept without each other in their 61 years of marriage. The good news is that my dad has worked hard with the PT and OT to improve his strength enough to come back home to my mom this upcoming Sunday.

It will be a relief for them to be together again. I will get to return home to my husband, who has been holding down the fort while I have been staying with my mom. Our daughter, her husband, and our young grandson have stayed at our house since before Christmas. After this weekend, everyone will be back in their own homes with their loved ones, and life will return to a somewhat normal state…with the unsettling knowledge lingering in the back of our minds, however, that our dad still has a blocked artery in his neck.

We don’t know what the future holds for our dad, but what we do know is that we are not going to take him for granted and we are forever grateful to God for the tender mercy of this extended time our parents get to spend together in this beautiful little house where they created a loving home filled with unforgettable memories.