Happy to have chance to procrastinate

<p>I spent the day at the hospital this week with my dad. We both noticed that the attending nurses in the Community South emergency room looked to be about 14 to 18 years old.</p><p>When Dr. Christopher, D.O. (he had a last name, but I didn’t catch it) and Dr. another-young-man came in, I knew for sure they had some new requirement that you must be under 35 to be employed there — kind of like the opposite requirement of serving as president. But no matter, everyone was on top of their game.</p><p>Dad apologized, “Janny, sorry for you having to be here — I could have driven myself.”</p><p>Me: “Dad, don’t be silly…you and mom spent over half your lives taking care of all of us (7 children), and it’s always better to be heart safe, than sorry.</p><p>Dad: “Yeah, but I didn’t have to take you to the hospital.”</p><p>Me: “That’s right, no hospital visits since none of us ever broke a bone.”</p><p>Dad: “Except David when he drank fuel oil and drove that stake through his foot.” [separate incidents and years apart in the 1970s]</p><p>After five to six hours of thorough testing, and one episode of “Gunsmoke” with Festus taking care of a young man who hated any animal being hurt — we were released with the promise of a follow-up cardiologist specialist visit.</p><p>Later that evening, my brother Kevin walked over to check on dad and texted us siblings: “Dad was out in his garden.”</p><p>I was at home doing the exact same thing with my chore-list in hand:</p><p>50 pounds potting soil for four pots</p><p>Shovel horse manure to raised garden beds</p><p>Plant asparagus asap</p><p>Plant four ‘Mighty Chocolate Cherry’ astilbe in bee garden/straighten tri-color beech trees (world’s slowest-growing!)</p><p>Water canna</p><p>Weed, weed, weed — 12-yards of Forest Fine mulch are coming.</p><p>Weed front bay window bed before it’s too late!</p><p>Straighten and prune ‘Torolusa’ Hollywood Juniper, it looks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.</p><p>Make bamboo teepee for beans</p><p>Water/fertilize tomato plants</p><p>Clean out lettuce table, so Steve can repair</p><p>Clean out hummingbird feeders/new sugar water — hummingbirds have been leering.</p><p>Water 10 new conifers/Japanese maples — unless you enjoy throwing money away!</p><p>Wash windows — you’ll be able to look out and see the gardens!</p><p>Run Swiffer over basement wood floors/stairs</p><p>Vacuum upstairs carpet and dust sometime this spring!</p><p>When I received the text, I realized that dad and I were both in our “happy places,” and I was ever so content that he had given me an excuse to procrastinate.</p>