The other night I was driving with our son, Ethan. Out of the blue my eight-year-old boy said, "Daddy are you ever going back to work again?" Startled, I said, "I just don't know. The stroke really did a number on me. I just do not know if I can work anymore. And that is sad for me." He said, "Strokes really suck don't they, Dad?" Then he said, "If you don't go back to work, what do you think you'll do every day?" When my dad retired at 53, it was very hard for him. His identity was wrapped in the fact that he worked at Buttrey Foods and before that the B&B in Kalispell, Montana. When Buttrey Foods "big wigs" told my dad that he would be "retired" (Actually it was a cost saving measure because his pension was getting too expensive for the company so they actually fired him), it was a major shock for him and our family. Dad started work delivering newspapers when he was about 10, a...
I am a stroke survivor. My blog is about my recovery, family, and possibilities.