The Best Kind of Gifts

Yesterday was my dad, Milton Lawlor's birthday. It is an absolute miracle he was here to celebrate it. This past year in September my dad got really sick, drove home from work where my mom turned around and took him straight to the hospital, it took them almost a week to decide, but it turned out he had pancreatitis. Which essentially meant 1. his pancreas was eating itself, 2. he wasn't really digesting anything, and 3. he was in ALOT of pain. He spent over five weeks in the hospital, came really close to dying 3 times, had major surgery, and after he went home he still needed weeks of rest. He wasn't able to return to work until the middle of January. He's been doing pretty great, he just gets tired really quickly. He lost over 30 pounds when he was sick and still hasnt't gained it back.

The big deal is, we got to keep him. What a gift. My dad is a really hard worker. He's kind and thoughtful. He loves everyone. He is a firm believer in work. He never takes a break (discounting the recent pancreas incident ;> ). He is very strong in the Gospel. My dad has always been an example to me. He taught his children important truths and life lessons. But he didn't skip out on the temporal needs like changing the oil in the car or building a book case, or the electrical in the house, in my case he was the editor of everythingI've ever written for school or church talks or whatever I needed. Now my brothers were all into the building stuff more, but I can carve a mean decoration out of wood and paint it. hahaha. ok, dumb, but i did used to go out in the shop and use my dad's scrap wood peices to make amazing useless things with his electric saws. I still love the smell of sawdust. That I definitely got from my dad.

This is Dad over a year ago, before all this craziness happened. Here he was working on the new carport of their house--they turned the old carport into a new family room.

I love you Dad. Thank you for all your lessons.