My family has experienced Serendipity. Who knew?

Some of you have been participating in Studio30Plus' writing prompts, and I must say I have enjoyed the reads. Oh, and the good folks over there featured one of my blog posts in the Weekend Spotlight, so thanks for that. If you have found your way to my blog because of them, welcome! I really don't care how you got here, as long as your ass is here. Now click that follow button and no one will get hurt.

I am kind of glad they put up a new one yesterday, because I was totally at a loss as to what to write about this Monday morning. Except for the fact that I am REALLY not liking losing an hour of sleep to this whole daylight savings time crap. I am not a morning person anyway, so making Krissy get up an hour earlier is really not a good way to start the week. It will probably take me a couple of weeks to get used to this mess, so bear with me. Grouch in the house, folks! I'm going to try hard not to take it out on you all.

Back to the topic at hand.. The prompt for this week is....

Serendipity - Luck that takes the form of finding valuable or pleasant things that are not looked for.

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The first thing that came to mind is the story I am about to bestow onto you. (Did I use that right? Screw it.. It's Monday morning so who cares???) I went with my parents on a trip to Pittsburgh a couple of years ago and when we were packing their truck up to come back, we were all taking turns hauling the stuff up the hill for my father to pack it all up. You see, my aunt's house (which used to be my grandparents' house) is on a freaking hill like you wouldn't imagine. Of course, if you've ever been to Pittsburgh and probably parts of West "By God" Virginia, you probably know what I'm talking about. I see those light bulbs going off for some of you. (Damn, that's bright for Monday!) Something like this one to the right.. only prettier...

Anyway.. You have to either park at the top or bottom of the hill, so either way you have a climb to load the vehicle. Dad, of course, is the Chief of all things packing because he has the military precision of being able to load lots of crap into a small amount of space. While we always go on trips with lots of stuff, we always come back from Pittsburgh with a ginormous amount due to the extensive Steelers and Penguins merchandise that must be purchased on every trip.

Needless to say, my suitcase and every other item was loaded down pretty much to bursting. I actually told my father who is in his 70's to let me know when he wanted to throw my suitcase into the truck, and I would do it. The man is strong as an ox and always has been, but he is getting older, ya know? Of course, he did it himself anyway. After the trip, he starts complaining that his shoulder hurts and proceeds to tell us that he thought he felt something when he loaded my suitcase into the truck. NATURALLY, it's Krissy's fault! We wouldn't have it any other way.

The shoulder doesn't get better so he goes to the doctor. There is definitely a tear in his shoulder so they do a stress test to make sure his body can handle surgery. They end up finding a blockage in his heart! Serendipity, right?! This would be a valuable thing to know, no? Ha! Krissy is not at fault anymore, but she is a freakin' genius if you all didn't know that. Well, my family still blames me, but still...

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They send Dad in for a cardiac catheterization which is a procedure they do to determine the amount of blockage. They are expecting to have to put a stint in to help him out. They end up finding that his main artery is like 80 or 90% blocked. (I forget the exact number now.) My perfectionist father is the only one whose body would find a way to pump his blood a different way since he had this blockage.

They tell him he's a perfect candidate for this new robotic procedure where they do surgery on the heart, but they are able to go through in between his ribs instead of cracking his chest open. The only problem is that there are only 5 doctors in the country who do this procedure, so we have to go to Atlanta for it. Okay, so tell us when.

They end up running all kinds of other tests on Dad while he's waiting for his surgical date. Dad tells his doctor that he's been feeling a bit dizzy lately and sometimes nauseous. Turns out the man has a freaking brain tumor! Okay, do I get a pat on the back yet?? Huh? Do I? All because of MY suitcase, the doctors found a just-about total block in my father's heart and a freaking brain tumor, people. Seren-freaking-dipity, I say!

Dad has since had both the heart surgery and brain surgery and he's doing great. He has more energy, (Wouldn't you after opening up that kind of blockage so your heart can actually pump the way it's supposed to?), they were able to lower his blood pressure medicine to very low levels, and he's feeling a hell of a lot better overall. They have even recently decided he doesn't need the shoulder surgery because he's been kicking butt in physical therapy and isn't in pain anymore.

We all like to say he has an angel looking out for him, and I'm sure it's my brother-in-law Art who passed away almost 4 years ago now. But I like to think I had a hand in it... or a suitcase, anyway.