2/19/2014 - 35 years ago today

2/19/1979 in at least Sussex County Delaware we were socked in by a blizzard.  They weren't named then.  They were just called "the blizzard of '79" and if you were here, you remembered.  I hadn't remembered the date until a friend had posted on fb (h/t to Bruce VonGoerres).  That's when the memories come back.  Now those of you that aren't locals will probably scoff at our memories.

At that time I was snowed in at home, when I say home I mean my parents home.
My Mom was snowed in at Stockley Center where she worked. 
Dad had been plowing places out with the tractor until he got stuck at the end of our road.  The snow was hip deep for him and he was around 5'7".  He had to walk about a ¼ city block.  Eh, not too hard for a 61 year old man that had been a farmer all his life, right?  Except that my Daddy had a stiff leg.  His left leg had been fused from a farm accident (yet another story for another day).

Daddy's girl

I don't remember what drew me to the window but I finally saw him when he was halfway home.  He was throwing that stiff leg up and over the snow over and over again.  I sobbed.  I couldn't stop watching.  I couldn't reciprocate helping the man that I knew would lay down his life for me.  I got two glasses filled with ice, one for water and one for tea, ready for him when he got in the house.  When he finally got in he was gray.  He was sweating profusely and I was scared to death because there was no way in or out.  He finally got his breathing and heartbeat back to normal and his skin color came back to normal. I asked him if it was hard and he didn't want to talk about it, like most things in his life.

While I'm talking about my Daddy, he was a wonderful father who is truly missed.  I wish he could have stayed around a few more years but not in the pain he was in.  I know he is in a better place.

*New MS thing last night...I woke up choking, scared the crap out of David and I.  I think I went right back to sleep after getting a drink of water.  David couldn't get back to sleep for a while.  I told him this morning that we would have to fix him up with a bed in another room, he said NO. Fine by me.