house

My parents have lived in the same house since 1957. It is a great old house, built in 1913, with so much character. It's even on the state's historic registry. I grew up in this house and so it holds so many memories for me. My brothers and I have tried to talk my parents into moving into something smaller and more manageable for them, but my mom refuses to leave. She raised her children in this home. She grew old with my dad in this home. She knows it would be much too difficult for her to leave it. So there they stay, in this historical home full of solid wood doors, leaded glass windows, and workmanship that is now almost impossible to find.

My mom loves Christmas. She has so many decorations and her Christmas village could easily fill two rooms. She loves her Christmas tree, full of Victorian doll heads that she painted herself. The heads hang on little motors that turn in circles so that the viewer can see all sides of the head. We sometimes make fun of the "spinning heads" on the tree, but we can't imagine it any other way. Those spinning doll heads are SO my mom!

Here are my mom and dad in front of their tree. You can also see the tole-painted (by my mom, of course) piano. I spent many hours on that piano from the age of 8 to 18. Her two rocking chairs sit across from each other, covered in needlepoint that she stitched herself. On one side of the room you can see the framed embroidery hanging on the wall that she, again, made and entered in the Utah State Fair so many years ago. On the other side of the room, her framed needlepoint roses hang by the piano. You can also see (to the left of my mom) her tole-painted carousel horse sticking out from behind her. A large Victorian doll sits atop that horse. The wooden file cabinet (bottom right corner) sits next to my dad's organ and is filled with all of his organ music, most of it from the Big Band era. My mom loves to listen to my dad play the organ. And he's good. Really good.

You can see the love my parents have for each other.

This picture tells a thousand stories. I love this picture.

my dad

Here is my dad, Sam, many years ago at the microphone of his radio station KBUH.

It's a difficult thing to see your parents age and the health problems that come along with that. This past Saturday morning, my dad had a stroke. He woke up unable to speak or use his right hand. Since we don't know exactly when the stroke occured, the doctors didn't feel good about giving him the drugs that are usually given to a stroke patient within a 3-hour time frame. Apparently, once that time frame has passed, it actually becomes quite dangerous to administer the drugs. So not knowing whether the stroke had occured 1 hour or 5 hours earlier, that option was not available. When I made it to the hospital by that afternoon, I was shocked to see how bad his speech really was. He was only able to muster out some slurred sounds, and I couldn't understand anything he was trying to say. And since he is right handed, he couldn't even write anything down. This left him completely unable to communicate.

My dad has the most beautiful voice! It is a very deep, crystal clear voice. He once ran his own radio station filling the airwaves with his beautiful sound. He has recorded many narrations over the years. He always said that he regrets not auditioning for the host/narrator of "Music and the Spoken Word". I agree, he would have been perfect for that.

When I spoke with him on the phone this morning, I was blown over when he answered the phone! He then proceeded to tell me that he couldn't find the phone as it was buried in my mom's purse. I understood every word he said. What a miracle! As I talked with him, he still struggled with some words, and others were slow and a bit slurred, but his voice is back. What a blessing. I am amazed at how quickly he is recovering. The stroke occured only 48 hours ago, and the progress so far is very promising. I hope that this first stroke is his last. My dad will be 80-years-old this July.