You Raise Me Up...

He's on the decline...

The hospitalization Wednesday afternoon cemented it for me.

I await tomorrow...

When I will be able to see him for the first time since then...

Oh, how I love him...

He is, and since the day I first laid eyes on him, has been, my hero.

He is my dad...

The one who chose me.

He has loved me...

Comforted me...

Made things right for me...

And, today, it is out of my hands to decide what is right for him.

I remember the first time I saw him...

Looking just like "Papa Smurf" (no joke).

I was 18 when my mother first introduced us.

That was 24 years ago.

He's been my dad longer than my natural dad was given on this earth to know me...

And, he has loved me every moment, of every day, since that very second.

I have loved him, too.

I am faced with losing him...

Not tomorrow, or even the next day...

But the unmeasurable cruelty of disease is upon us all...

And, it may well be that the man I know is now gone...

Replaced by a look-a-like.

And, I am not prepared for what I will find tomorrow.

If he is "right", I don't think I can take the tears that are inevitable...

If he is not "right", I'm not sure I can face the shell of the man he was.

The only thing I do know for sure is that I love him...

He raises me up.