Your Name Is Joseph

Imagine hosting a baby shower for a dear friend out of town. Your phone signal is low, but you don't think too much of it until the event ends, and you move to an area with better reception. You see that you missed a ton of calls from your hometown, with most of them being numbers not stored in your contacts. You start to listen to the messages. "Is your dad okay?" "Your dad had a heart attack." "Your dad is being taken to the emergency room." "Please let me know if you need anything."Just like that, what you had planned will not be happening. You have to rush home and face one of your worst fears.

This book is about my father. In 2015, he experienced an ischemic stroke and was in the hospital and a rehabilitation center for twenty–one days. I was there every day. I was scared and nervous.

A few days into it, I decided to keep a minijournal, jotting down observations, conversations, and some of my own personal feelings throughout this experience. It started to get therapeutic. Then I decided that it may be a good way to share with my dad what happened if he doesn't remember. I think of it like that night out with that one friend that didn't drink anything and can tell you what happened.

I genuinely believe that our stories and experiences are not ours. So there is at least one person who needs to know that they are not alone in their feelings and experiences and possibly get a little humor out of it. There are some tips and lessons learned that may be helpful if you find yourself in a similar situation.

-- Shaunte Newby