Moving Dad, and other stories

Pat A. Cain writes:
I can't pass up the opportunity to share some stories I have of moving my dad.
He had sold his farm south of Carlos and moved to California in 1969, just before I graduated from college. He'd put most everything in storage in Alexandria so, over the next year, that was all moved to my first "apartment," which was the upstairs of a house in Chaska.
He took his truck and whatever he could fit in it and took off for California. He stayed there until 1981 when the doctors felt he was in his last days.
Boy did he fool them! He lived another 14 years (five years living with us -- which is another whole saga). He then moved to Hopkins and was active in the "seniors" there, serving at their noon lunches until he was about 94 years old.
He was a king candidate in the Hopkins Raspberry Festival and participated regularly in square dancing.

A California surprise
However, about Dad's move from California to Minnesota: He flew here while my husband, Larry, flew to California to pack everything up! Little did Larry know what he would encounter. My Dad had lived in a mobile home, so there was not a lot of knick knacks and that sort of accumulation. He was never a pack rat like me!
However, Larry found jars and the old metal band-aid boxes full of old nuts, bolts, screws, nails, etc.....probably originally moved from Minnesota!!! So back to Minnesota they came!!!

Saved the boxes
Dad has also saved every box from anything he had ever purchased. But that was helpful when it came time to pack the TV. However, the 3-4 older gentleman that were there to "help pack" held the box over the TV (about a 19" portable), but could not figure out how to get the TV into the box! Finally, they just put the box over the TV and tipped the whole thing upside down!
It traveled well and is still around yet today.

High winds
Larry drove through high wind warnings in the desert on the way back, with an old Plymouth and pulling a medium sized U-Haul. When dropping it off at the dealership in Minnesota, they asked, "Who hooked this up to the car?" The dealer in California had. The guy just touched the hitch with his foot and the whole thing disconnected! There were definitely many angels watching over him during his whole trip!

There are many other stories from the years when Dad was living with us....but that's for another time.

Status report on Sean
I do have one more comment. I've been following the news coming in from those having children/grandchildren etc. suffering with illness/diseases etc. I think I had written last October that our son, Sean, was in a terrible motorcyle accident.
He was released on Thanksgiving Day after numerous surgeries. He stayed with us until Dec. 14 when he was back at North Memorial with Staph and Ecoli Infections, all of which had started before he left the hospital in November. We could smell that foul odor and no one would listen to us about it being anything other than "the lambs wool in the vest smells like that!!!" Wrong!!!!
We got him out the second time on Dec. 26. We had to take him to the Glenwood hospital daily through the end of January for an I.V. of powerful antibiotics. He was on oral antibiotics (10/day) through the end of March.
He (and his dog) lived with us until the end of Jan. He has been discharged by the back surgeon who told him he'd healed ten times faster than he'd ever imagined!! I took him to his home the end of January, and he's been back at work full time. He is truly a miracle. We have witnessed the power of prayer.
We had friends and relatives from Canada to Texas and from California to Michigan or farther east perhaps praying for him. There was a large color picture of Sean and his dog, Coalie, on the front page of the Brainerd Dispatch on March 28.
A photographer was at the park where Sean was and wanted pictures showing "signs of spring" or something like that.....what a difference 6 months can make!!! But for those of you having trials and concerns, never give up.....prayer is powerful!!!!