When my dad was going through chemo after his AML diagnosis, all any of us wanted was something that might help.
Hope makes you open to strange things.
My daughters had gotten into crystals and healing stones, which led me to a little Omaha shop called Awakenings. On one visit, I found a bloodstone bracelet. The card talked about courage, healing, blood detoxification, and heart energy.
Maybe it was faith. Maybe it was desperation. Maybe it was just a son trying to hand his dad one more reason to keep fighting.
So I bought it and gave it to him at the hospital.
I don’t know if Dad believed in any of it, but he smiled and wore it anyway.
Five or six weeks later, I asked him how it was working.
Without even cracking a smile, he said,
“I think it’s working great. I haven’t had one period since I’ve been wearing it.”
We both burst out laughing.
That was him.
Even in a hospital room, with chemo draining the life out of him, he still found the joke nobody else could.
A couple of months later, he passed in July 2023.
When my mom gave the bracelet back, it meant so much to my daughters and me that he had worn it, I took it apart and mixed the beads into three other bracelets so the four of us would each have one.
A little piece of him, carried forward.
That December, I had one final holiday banquet to lead as Venerable Master at the Scottish Rite.
The date was December 18.
His birthday.
Before the event, I drove 45 miles to the cemetery with a helium birthday balloon, tied it to his headstone, and sang “Happy Birthday” in the cold Nebraska air.
Then I drove back, put on my tux, and led the banquet for 250 guests.
Before the evening began, I told everyone it was Dad’s birthday and shared the bracelet story.
The room laughed, then teared up.
It was exactly the kind of moment he would have loved.
Now, whenever grief starts to creep in, I hear that line again.
I haven’t had one period since I’ve been wearing it.
And I laugh.
Sometimes he still checks in other ways too.
Just yesterday, while I was fixing the garage door, a cardinal landed in the tree across the street and chirped the whole time like he was supervising the job.
That feels about right.
If this resonated with you, you’re not alone.
