(I’m writing this late Wednesday evening, but will be publishing this on a delay so proper notifications can be made. I hope you’ll excuse me for burying the lede on this one.)

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Sunday began with Lisa and Mathias both falling ill, leaving me to care for both.  Mathias’ breathing was quite labored by Monday morning, resulting in me having to take him to his fourth respiratory-related visit to the emergency room.  After some treatments at the hospital, he was sent home and was doing better by Tuesday.

Lisa’s bout of the flu carried on.  Aside from a quick run to work to meet with some people who had flown in from out of state, I took Tuesday off to take care of her and Mathias. In the evening I finally finished our taxes, and found that our return would take a significant bite out of some debt we’ve been carrying since selling our condo and having Mathias.  That was fully expected, but to see the actual numbers was good news.

With me scheduled to head off to Austin for SXSW on Friday, Lisa and I went to bed in different beds in hopes of keeping me from catching whatever was afflicting her.  Three nights in a row of sleeping away from her made me restless, and I slept poorly.  Mathias waking screaming twice in the night didn’t help.

Today, Wednesday, brought a couple of important early-morning meetings at work.  My car responded by the ABS system locking up, requiring me to pull off the freeway and call a tow.  Both meetings were over by the time I left the Saturn dealership.

A few minutes later at the nearby Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the representative handed me the keys to a Dodge Grand Caravan–the only vehicle they had left–and mentioned that my spouse was automatically authorized to drive the car.  At the time, that fact didn’t seem important.

At work, I received an automated email congratulating me on my 10 years of service to Thomson Reuters, with a link to the site displaying the service gifts from which I could choose.  I picked an analog wrist watch with the TR logo.  While of a very different style, it kind of reminded me of the service ring my Dad got while working for Oldsmobile–as well as the watch he wore when I was a kid–although neither of those really played into my decision.

A half hour later I got the call from the Saturn dealership. It would be $1065 to get the brakes fixed.  I told them to go ahead.

A half hour after that my boss walked in and handed me a letter explaining my bonus for 2008.  It was good news, and with the tax return we’d be wiping out almost two-thirds of our debt.  I called Lisa to loop her in, and we talked about how it was kind of weird that within such a short period we’d gotten the good news about our taxes, the bad news about my car, and then the good news about my bonus.  “I guess we’re due for some bad news, then,” I joked.

20 minutes later my mom called to tell me my father had passed away sometime early this morning.

Tomorrow we’ll drive the minivan to Two Rivers, where we’ll meet my mom, my brother and his girlfriend (both of whom are flying in from Oklahoma), and our friends in the area.

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It’s incredibly strange for me to think that 24 hours ago my dad, a complex, often wonderful man with an amazing story, was alive, and now he’s not.  He had so many tragedies, but nothing so permanent as this.