The Day my Dad died

Most of my brothers and sisters and my Mom were together. We were hanging around the house in a state of shock is all I can describe it as. We did not know how long was left. He was quiet in the front room, laying on the hospital bed. Thank God we brought him home . He was in his house, not a hospital room. The sun was out so we decided to clean up the yard. We all went out to get every weed out of the lawn and clean up the flower beds. Dad loved the garden so it seemed like what he would want us to do. After an hour or so it was looking perfect. So back into the house to wait . Everyone was in the kitchen talking and being together. For some reason I felt like I should go check on Dad and tell him we got the yard all cleaned up. I held his hand and noticed that he was breathing very quietly. He was supposed to do the dying breath breathing when it was close to the end and he was not doing that .He was just breathing softly. Then he stopped. I called to Mom and said he stopped breathing and she called back”oh he does that sometimes” But he did not breath again.

His face was absolutely beautiful. He always was handsome but after going through all he did , even at age 90, He was flawless. Not a wrinkle on his face. He had lost so much weight that he was perfect. . We all were marveling how beautiful he looked . My brother shaved him and we put a suit and tie on him and took his picture.

Looking at the father that we all loved more than we knew. He  was with his family at the end.   I think there could be no better end than what he had.  Painful as it was to lose him, I am infinitely grateful to God for that day going as it did.

It felt like we carried him out on our shoulders and handed him over to God.

I think about Dad all the time, I wish I could tell him how the garden is doing, What the roses are looking like. I want to tell him how my son bought a home with a third of an acre with fruit trees and wisteria. He would love that.

I know I will see him again one day and then I will tell him everything again. We will plant new trees and watch them grow.

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