We had been on quite a run this fall. We were out on the road for seventeen days, home for four, and then back out for eleven. The shows were all over the U.S. map, and we were having a good time making inroads with our music in our busiest fall ever. In spite of all the fun doing exactly what I want for a living, I was longing for home. "One of me is not enough, but two of me would be too much" kept running through my head (and will probably find its way into a song). I missed my wife and kids and was worried about my father. Since his heart attack in April and open-heart surgery, he had been on a health kick, eating right and exercising, and in the process losing a lot of weight. Before our recent touring, he had looked the healthiest I'd seen him since he sold the farm. I could tell on the phone, however, that something was wrong. He'd assure me that he was fine, but his voice sounded airy and his breathing wasn't right. I told Corina when I got home, "I'm doing absolutely nothing tomorrow but soaking up home. I'm not leaving the yard for days." My mother's phone call interrupted that plan. Dad was taken to the hospital with congestive heart failure. When I reached the hospital, I realized that he'd been downplaying how he'd been feeling for my benefit, never wanting me to worry when I'm so far from home. He was hospitalized for a week and is now home, back on his program, thank God! I need for him to quit being John Wayne and to get to the hospital before it's too late. I need him around.
Eric