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This Is Us
My Octopus Dad
Swimming with my Dad through calm and rough seas.
I’d like to be under the sea in an octopus’s garden in the shade. We would be warm, below the storm, in our little hideaway beneath the waves.
—The Beatles
“How are things with you,” my uncle called from NYC yesterday to check in.
“Fine. I just watched the most incredible documentary about an octopus.”
“Okay. So, the boredom level is pretty high on the West Coast.”
In full transparency, it felt easier than saying, “Well I’m an anxious wreck, because my mom thinks my dad has bronchitis… and he isn’t eating anything and I don’t know how to help from 3,000 miles away, and I’m crying every hour because I feel so helpless.”
My mom has been taking care of my dad for years, and she does a hell of a job. He has MS, so a case of bronchitis or even a common cold is pretty much an emergency situation. The main goal is to keep him out of the hospital as much as possible.
But the past few days have been rough. Since he’s already paralyzed (he can’t use his arms or legs), my mom has to do every single thing for him, from feeding…
