Page 53 (1/1)

My dad had had what his doctors called an ischeot to the hospital, his speech was unintelligible and there was no way he could walk I had run into the e for help and within minutes he’d been wheeled in while I had shouted out exactly what had transpired in the kitchen After a scan to e, he was put on blood thinners to loosen and break up the clot But a great deal of dae had already been done

After a week in the hospital, my dad came home unable to walk and unable to speak clearly The part of his brain that controls ed His left side was particularly weak, and he was unable even to feed himself

I drove him back and forth to the rehabilitation clinic in Provo every day, where he spent three to five hours relearning everything fro his na the team of doctors and therapists that worked with him each day My brothers and their wives assisted where they could Jacob took ratefully left that in his capable hands Often, one ofhi me on one stretch or another, but for the iver, and I took on his care with a ferocious deterain I had lost too many, and my dad would not be nu with a walker andconsiderable strides in other areas His words were not nearly as slurred, although he’d lost soet e’d talked about only moments before I’d asked hi for a moment he’d responded - "What’s a two?"

Even his sense of touch was affected He couldn’t tell hot fro sensation was off somewhere in his brain One day he washed his hands under scalding water, not knowing he was burning theht after his stroke, I called the Dean of Ad University, as well as the director of thethem on my situation, both had been truly kind and toldschool year As I hung up the phone I kneouldn’t be using it

I stopped playing the piano after my dad’s stroke The first weeks after he was able to co but see to his needs I fed hih the exercises I’d been shown that would help hith andhours in rehabilitation took up the er the keys, waiting for that familiar pull inin ely silent I didn’t let myself dwell on it I don’t know if it was exhaustion or just an unwillingness to face as happening toto classical music when I ran Instead, I borrowed Tara’s iPod and listened to Ti to Tara they were ‘real e Strait and Johnny Cash I found the hts while I ran and left my heart untouched - which was just what I wanted

When th of ti piano lessons Financially ere in trouble, and I needed to work But the lessons were noisy, and our house was s stroke patient who needed a great deal of rest, so the bishop of our church gave me permission to use one of the rooms in the church to teach my students By that time it was summer, and school was out I could schedule my students around my dad’s rehab schedule But when school started, my students would not be able to accommodate me as easily, and I needed an additional source of inco else

Tara had gone to beauty school and graduated the year before with big dreaestion that I could take classes at the beauty college in the hourshair would be as good a way as any for me to stay close to home and pay the bills Jared lived in Provo, about ten minutes from the hospital, and when I wasn’t out of class in time to pick my dad up, he would pick him up and take him to his house until I was finished with classes Soraduated with my hair color mostly intact, and no dreaotten grunt work in a pricey salon in Salt Lake City, hoping to learn from the best and work her way up I’m sure Louise would have like her to come ith her at Ballow’s ‘Do, but she wasn’t surprised at Tara’s need to do her own thing Tara’s lack of interest in the family business helped me, because Louise let me work in her shop I was able to cut hair in the day and teach piano students in the evenings, and , financially and otherwise

Tara was the kind of stylist who experimented on everyone who knew her with h several different shades and cuts before Tara’s mom pulled Tara aside and kindly but firmly told her she was to experi as I had absolutely no interest in how I looked In beauty school I had practiced on her as well, with h I would never be as creative as Tara was, I was conscientious and precise My loneliness ive custo out their inner sex kitten, as Tara was prone to do