The Flags of our Fathers...
...or of our Restaurant Chains
Saturday I go in for a blood draw and a Covid test, my last items before surgery. The funny thing about the Covid test is that it is self administered- more or less the honor system. I still jab it up to the brain as I want to know if I am still dodging Covid but I could definitely see people doing it wrong. I don’t know, the faith is not there on my end.
Anyway, when I last went in for a CT scan I had a weird observation. As I exited the car, I heard a flapping noise and noticed the flagpoles stretching into the sky. There were three flags- the American flag, the state of Illinois flag, and the hospital’s flag? I started to notice as I drove around, the odd number of institutions that thought it necessary to have their own flags: banks, restaurants, and a litany of stores.
Is there a fast food war in our history we don’t know about? (s/o Dan Cortese)
The only valid reason I can see is advertising purposes like if you are driving on an interstate and are looking for food options. However we all have seen the skyscraper McDonald’s signs that cut into a rolling hill backdrop somewhere in Tennessee that screams “You didn’t want fries, but now you do.”
Anyway, I am not quite sure why my hospital has a flag. I am never joyriding around and see a hospital flag and think “Well I wasn’t going to look for medical treatment but now that I’m here why not?” They’re also not car dealers where Nissan, Ford, and Toyota are fighting for business in the same 2 block radius. Then again, I think flags on my health care facilities are the smallest issue with health care in our country.
To avoid a political rant here though I will say that entering into this one week countdown is daunting. Rachel has done an amazing job creating experiences to both create memories and take my mind off of all of this. The problem is there are times I feel I am watching myself make these memories- and I can not escape the thought of “is this the last time I. . . ?” It has been a real Catch-22 but one I shouldn’t avoid and one I am trying my best not to avoid.
The kids are on spring break this week and Rachel has a conference Tuesday through Thursday. This means I am with them the middle of the week to create memories and break up fights. It is fun, even if I have to yell “because I said so” a million times. (If you are not a parent don’t judge). In all seriousness the kids have no idea what is happening. Cancer to them is Dad not feeling good occasionally, Dad will be in the hospital for a week or so, and Dad will then sleep in a recliner in the office for a few weeks. And to be honest, that’s fine with me. They don’t need to know the fear, the gravity, the unknowns we know. They’re busy planning sleepovers before the procedure, how many hugs we have to give before I go to the hospital (24 each night for Fallon), and how many snacks they can have each day before they are rolled out of the house by an Oompa Loompa.
Again, thank you to everyone for all your support throughout this whether it be your kind words, texts and calls, donations, gift cards, and so much more. It makes this journey easier to go through and really is touching. Anyways, off to go hear “I’m bored” for the hundredth time amongst a sea of toys and electronics.
Joe