A birthday surprise

My phone at work had a red light and that usually means I have a message.  I listened to it and it was my daughter asking me to call her back.  I did and we chitchatted for a few minutes about her bio tech test (I don't understand all that!) :) 

About 1/2 hour later, there was another red light on my phone.  Now, please understand that most of the time, I am the only one answering phones, so I'm not sure who this is.  It was a hang up....which is fine.  But I decided to listen to my old voice messages as there were many, and to get rid of them! 

I think I got rid of about 12 old messages from literally months/years ago.  The next one was from my mom.  It started out, "Hey Maria, sorry we didn't call you back last night, but we were tired as we had dinner with Uncle Paul".  I listened to this message, because my mom was talking about her and my dad and their trip in March/April when they went to Florida.  My mom continued to tell me about my other aunt flying in and that they were tired because they were up talking late with my aunt and uncle, etc, etc.....(my mom can go on and on).  All of a sudden she says, Here Dick, say hello to your daughter.....And I burst into tears.....His voice was very weak.  He couldn't talk much towards the end....and all he said, was "Hi Ri, We are doing fine and I'll talk to you soon".  I hadn't heard his voice in almost four months and it was very difficult emotionally for me.  It really isn't cool to cry at work, so I ran to the ladies room.  I have no idea why I saved that message...nor did I know it was there.....But I will never erase it now, at least while I work here.  

Today is my birthday and my dad got to say hello to me.....I don't need any other presents.