Asa Jay's weblog

Today, we attended the memorial service for one of my wife’s grandfathers who recently died. His death was not unexpected and we had the wonderful opportunity to visit him in the hospital a week before he died at home under Hospice care. While at the service there were reminders of how valuable Dads are.

Dads are our biggest asset when we are young men. They teach us things about life. They help us understand the difference between hot and cold, sharp and dull. When my dad accidentally drilled a hole in his finger (holding the board on the opposite side he was drilling), I learned not to do that. Sure, there were things he taught me without the need to draw blood. One thing was how to treat women right.

When I started getting interested in girls, so long ago now I can’t remember when that was, my Dad told me one thing: Never do or say anything to a girl, you wouldn’t want some other guy to do or say to your sister. Well, that sure put a damper on things. Mind you my sister was younger and it wasn’t until -after- she got married, that I finally got married.

I’m not sure this little teaching of Dad’s is what kept me from marrying so long, but his advice was sound. He had lots of good advice, just like Shelley’s grandfather did to his kids. Today I had an opportunity to live those ethics.

While leaving the service, I needed to move our Jeep from it’s impromptu parking spot next to a fence to where the others could get in. As I began to move forward I managed to run over a field tap on a water main line. I didn’t realize it was there, and it wasn’t until I felt a bump as I slowly drove forward that I found out. Suddenly a large geyser of water erupted behind me. I suddenly felt like I was in a movie and had just run over a fire hydrant. All eyes were on me. Now what?
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Last week saw one of the most devastating earthquakes in recent history. The island which is home to both Haiti and the Dominican Republic was hit with a magnitude 7 earthquake just west of Port-au-Prince. Photos show a scale of destruction reminiscent of war. Indeed, today I read the body count of those recovered and given burial has reached over 40,000 and expectations are for that number to reach over 100,000 dead. Something like this causes our own family and local situations to pale in comparison.

Shelley and I have received some generous donations to help us defray the medical costs incurred by Sam’s recent surgery. Most recently Sam had another visit to the pediatric GI specialist and we found out Sam needs to see a specialist in either Wisconsin or Ohio for some specialized tests that can’t be done in Spokane. Wow, that should run up the bills but how does it compare to Haiti?

In addition, Sam recently saw a dentist that specializes in Autistic children. Shelley walked away with a $4,000 estimate to repair cavities. Holy Cow! Evidently his teeth are a minefield of holes. So a new strain will be put on our pocketbook, a huge one we’d not anticipated. Sam hardly eats anything sugary but that doesn’t mean anything. But let’s put this into a perspective taking Haiti into consideration.

Entire buildings have collapsed in Haiti, trapping or killing anyone inside. The major sea port entry into Haiti has been shaken and is currently impassable, goods can’t be brought in very easily. Family members are dead or dying, bodies are piling up, food is becoming scarce, there isn’t any shelter, chaos is beginning to reign and the criminal element is taking over. The need there, is very great. What can we do?
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