Our exchange

“Other things may change us, but we start and end with family”
-Anthony Brandt

The past few days, all conversations with my family have started and ended with the same dialogue, “I love you,” “I love you, too.” Six hundred miles away my grandfather lies in ICU, while my family waits for the approved visiting hours.

I'm not good at waiting, and I'm really uncomfortable in hospitals, but I hate being 3.5 states away even more. I wish I could be there. I wish I could run errands for them. I wish I could sit at the hospital, so they can go home and sleep or take a shower. With a nine-hour drive, a job that pays by the day, and flights that cost upwards of $1000, I'm not sure that I can get there, unless it's a real emergency. Yesterday I sent some homemade cookies in my place.

I hope that my family really knows how much love, how many prayers, and how many hugs are sent each time we exchange those simple words: “I love you.” “ I love you, too.”