Happy Birthday...

This past week leading up today has been very distracting for me. Today, my father would have been 71. His birthday has held a somber tone with me ever since he died. I keep forgetting that mine is in 8 days but I always know within a few weeks that his is upcoming. I still miss him terribly and every once in a while it really affects the way I think/concentrate as well as my performance at work and in life. Yesterday while at work, my partner and I were called to INOVA's Heart and Vascular Institute (a facility from which we're bound to do 2-5 transports a day but for the sake of this post it's the part of Fairfax Hospital in which my father died) to pick up a patient and take them back to their residence. Upon arriving at the ambulance entrance, as we were getting out, a funeral home van pulled into their designated parking spot, pulled out a gurney, and proceeded inside the building. Seeing that this was a normal part of our (and his) job we continued doing what we were doing. However, what proved to be creepy was the large Raven that was hanging around the black van on that cloudy and particularly gloomy day. We proceeded inside up to the 2nd floor to pick up our patient. As we got to the nurses station, I looked around and my eyes fell upon the room in which my father died: 259. Flashbacks from that early morning came to me fast. I fought them back in order to focus on my job but that dull feeling I first started experiencing outside stayed with me for the rest of the day.

Today wasn't bad though. My partner has become a good friend of mine and he helps keep a sometimes mundane day interesting. I managed to stay focus and happy. I use my father's birthday as a day to embrace his life and life in general. The years fleeting away from 2006 are getting better and better. Now, I have my own birthday to contend with...



Happy Birthday
Nathan E. Bevans
23 January 1939 - 20 April 2006