Life, it's involved with water

Water is at the very core of almost everything in life, and in fact, we depend on its availability daily. Nearly 70 % of the Earth's surface is covered by water, and remarkably, almost 70% of our bodies is composed of water. Is this coincidence, or has nature simply found that desirable formula to keep everything in balance. I subscribe to the notion that our divine Creator has had a hand in this, but each of us has to come to our own conclusions about that. Regardless, I think that there is little argument that water is fundamental to our survival. However water, in excess as in the case of floods, can be a curse or during a drought, its lack can be life threatening. So, as you can see, there is a delicate balance between the two. As in the case of congestive heart failure, water, too, can become the enemy. This week a very dear friend of mine lost his father, not because of some accident or other misfortune; he died because simply his tired body could no longer keep things in their proper, physiologic balance.

For the last several years, my friend's dad had been battling heart related issues. He'd had multiple admissions to the hospital to correct CHF. During the summer of 2008, he had one of those bouts of heart failure which landed him in the hospital. However, once he rallied and turned the corner, he was discharged home with the help of his family to keep him on track. His children made every effort to pitch in where they could, and at times, even the grandchildren were pressed in to service. It sounded an awful lot like my family and how we have made the commitment to keep our parents in their own home, even with their added needs. Well, while one of the adult grand kids was on a shift, she found herself getting up in the middle of the night to check on her grandfather, only to find him "obsessing" and weighing himself to see if he was retaining water. While he was on the scale, he pointed out to his granddaughter that "they were involved with water", so this ritual was of paramount importance, in spite of the hour. He weighed himself and recorded the information faithfully, so he could see if the trends were of concern. What was particularly fascinating was its simpleness. However, for his granddaughter, it was a moment in time that will be forever etched in her mind. That's the real gift, the gift of memories like this that we can cherish and share with the generations of family to come.

In fact, the inspiration for this blog came from 2 sources, 2 of my sisters and my good friend. My sisters suggested the family start annotating the stories of our parents, so we could pass them along, and my friend and I discussed the various modes of communication that people use today, blogging, tweeting, texting, skypeing, and good old fashioned story telling. So, here I am telling a story about my friend's father and his granddaughter, as if it had happened within my family personally, although in a way, it had. Friends like mine have been just like family, and I am blessed to have a wonderful family and such caring friends. Everyone who knew Mr. C will miss him, especially his family, but he provided many of us with the material for stories like this to keep his memory alive. In the meantime, we are involved with water, so give me a minute while I pour myself a glass of water, nature's champagne, to satisfy my thirst, because boy do I have a story to tell you!