The days I spent at home with my family felt like a mix of emotions, relief, happiness, and a little bit of worry all wrapped up together. After everything that had happened with my dad, I knew I couldn’t just leave right away. I needed to be there, to take care of him, to make sure he was really okay, to see with my own eyes that he was taking his medication and getting enough rest. At first, I thought I would only stay for a day or two, just until I was sure he was stable, but then a day turned into two, and two turned into the whole week. I knew I should have left earlier and gone back to work, but I couldn’t. My family needed me, and besides, Nick had already given me some days off, so I let myself stay a little longer.
My dad was getting better, slowly but surely. At first, he was st
