That second time you’re mom had open heart surgery

Oh hi The Poe,

Really the only topic this week is the one I’ve been keeping you updated on, mom’s surgery. I’m sitting here next to her hospital bed as I peck these words out on my iPad. She’s still in the ICU even though she’s not really an ICU customer anymore. It seems the hospital is busy and there are no normal rooms available. All I know is that the waiting room is full and the floor is busy. One lady has been in the waiting room at least since we came in on Thursday. Another family had a dad come in here all the way from Boise Idaho because he’d had a serious heart attack at the beginning of their Spring Break. That would be tough. We also saw a Lifeflight crew bringing someone in. That’s an expensive ride. One sad guy we pass on the way out has been in his bed out for days. He looks younger than me. I guess as bad as you think you have it, someone has it worse.

Mom said she’s probably not going to write this week, I told her that you’d understand. Plus, we can chat tomorrow.

They went over all of mom’s restrictions for when she’s home, and she was not happy about it. Some examples: she has to ride in the back seat of the car, which made me laugh because I’d been teasing her about that; she can’t vacuum or load the laundry or, and this is what she’s most annoyed about, put things in or take things out of the oven. They also retaught her how to put on shirts and wash her hair. She just needs to be so careful to heal properly. Your mother is very rules oriented so I’m confident that she’ll follow the rules, but when she starts to feel better I’ll probably need to keep an eye on her.

Ben got home from Atlanta last night at about 9:30. Jacob and I left here and it was raining really hard. We got to the airport a few minutes early so we got an ice cream cone at the Burger King drive through over there. When we parked to wait the was a lady in a Buick Enclave that needed a jump start. I have one of those battery jump units in my 4Runner, but it wouldn’t start it. Lucky the woman in the giant ford pickup truck on the other side of her had some jumper cables, unfortunately she had a diesel truck and thought it didn’t have a battery 🙄. Fortunately, I’m not a complete idiot and was able to hook her car to mine and we got her started. Unfortunately I was soaked by the time all that happened.

Earlier in the day Jacob and I took a break and got some delicious ground beef tacos from my relatives restaurant. It’s getting expensive to eat out these days. It had been starting to rain so after dinner we went home and I spread on the Step 1. With all the rain that followed, I feel like our grass had a good application and will get a good start. We came back to hang out with mom after that till it was time to get Ben. Grandma brought some crumble cookies, which always remind me of you.

The NCAA tournament is going on now. I’m not really following it but byu got upset by an 11 seed, they got killed, it was glorious. Utah State made it to the round of 32 but they lost by 40 this afternoon. The Utes are playing Iowa in the second round of the NIT tournament and are up 46-38 at the half. As Jacob says, “at least the Utes are playing later in the season than byu!”

There’s a chance mom will go home on Tuesday, which I’m hoping for. She’s making good progress and being a model patient. 

This afternoon aunt Patti invited us over for Sunday dinner, which was so welcomed. She made tacos like my mom used to, delicious homemade cheese enchiladas, rice and beans. Her beans are my favorite. For dessert she had this banana cake like my mom used to make that I just love, I had two pieces. She made all the foods like our mom used to make and it was so comforting. It’s the first time I’ve seen your cousin Cecily since her big operation. She looked so great. She had energy, she was able to eat which she hadn’t really been able to for the last year or so. I think the last time I had given her a hug is when you went through the temple before your mission. In fact, other than in the hospital, that was the last time I had seen her at all.

Yesterday after your mom’s surgery I could see the pain she was in. Grandma said that she wished that she could take some of that pain from her to ease the burden. I thought the same to myself then wondered how much of it I could actually bear, I think it hurt pretty badly. Then I wondered how long I could do it before I had to let it go. Then I felt sad that I couldn’t actually help her with it at all. This week in my prayers I’d been asking Heavenly Father if I could know my Brother Jesus a little better. I understand his role, and the atonement, and his love and the stories and lessons he has left us, but I would really like to know him better. So after those thoughts of me taking your mother’s burden it occurred to me that he did, and he felt every bit of it, and endured it. Plus the same for everyone who ever lived. Because he loves us, even more perfectly than I love your mother. I keep thinking of that and it’s comforting. I’m so grateful for Him and I love Him.

I’ll leave this letter at that. Your mom is resting now so I think I’ll sneak out of here in a few minutes.

Love you kid, I saw the pictures your mission posted on the Facebook page. You look really good and happy. I hope so, this mission is a wonderful time in your life. Not every second of it, but collectively you will always benefit from serving.

Pops