13 Years ago - July 26, 2010

7/26/2023 marks 13 years since my dad passed away. So often I hear people talk as if 5 or 10 years ago is ancient history- and maybe it is when it comes to social media or technology changes, but interestingly enough, 13 years ago I was writing this blog- and I posted about my father's passing. I have enjoyed looking at the posts from 2010. 2010 was a very big year for me. 

 The lows were low- my father passed away and that was hard, but we were lucky. He was an active man, living with his wife (my mom), in his own home, able to take care of himself. He had been diagnosed with Cancer- and was receiving chemotherapy. One day he accidently gashed his leg and went to the Doctor to have it checked out. That Doctor told him that because his immune system was compromised, he should go to the hospital to have it examined. I am a bit fuzzy on how a gash ended up with him having surgery- but it did- and he never woke up. He was in a coma for about 10 days.

Both of my sisters got to the hospital and my sister Amy called me to tell me to get there right away- he wasn't going to make it any longer. I called Mike and we loaded up our pregnant dogs and started from Pennsylvania to Connecticut. When we got to the Connecticut state line, I called my sister to let her know our ETA. She said, "here- talk to dad" and put the phone to his ear. I said, "Dad, I love you. Hold on, I am 2 hours away......" and my sister came back on the phone and said, "he heard you- and he just passed away." Wow. At that point I wished I hadn't called. 

When I got to the hospital all of the tubes and machines had been taken away and he looked peaceful. The minister was still there and he said to me, "when he heard your voice, the heart monitor changed. He heard you. He waited for you, and he knew you were with him." Hearing those words has meant a lot to me. Dad waited for me. Although I wasn't physically there, he didn't know that. He felt the touch of family, and heard all of our voices- and he was able to leave peacefully.

A few months after he died, I had a dream about him. In my dream, he was there- and in my dream I knew I was dreaming and that he was dead- but he told me he was good. I am SO THANKFUL to have had that closure.  I love and miss you Dad.