Goodbye, Dad
I buried my father yesterday.
God, I miss him. My dad was/is my hero. My father passed away last Friday, surrounded by his family and friends.
For those that don’t know, my dad has been fighting kidney cancer for the past 5 years, and he fought long and hard, but in the end, God wanted him home.
How and when my dad passed was quite an amazing story.
Thursday night, the 14th, my mom called and said that the nurses were saying he had an hour to two hours left to live. Jessica and I live about an hour and a half away, without traffic. We made it through rush hour traffic in an hour and 15 minutes.
Of course, in typical Mike-style, he was going when he wanted. We were told it was going to be any minute, and so we all stayed at the hospital overnight.
My dad had a stroke this past August, and has been in varying levels of awareness ever since, but this last night, he was thankfully unaware.
My wife and I needed to run some errands on Friday afternoon (we wanted to take a shower and get a few hours of sleep) so we went up to my parents house. We were told that it was unlocked so we could get in. We get there, and everything was locked.
Thank goodness, though. Had we made it inside, we never would have gotten the call to get back.
My brother called me, and told me to hurry back, because it didn’t look good. So we race back, going super fast with our hazards on and driving on the shoulder. We make it into the parking lot and my other brother pulls in behind us. We run into the critical care unit, and about a minute behind us my brother walks in.
My mom bends down and tells my dad that everyone is there. And within 30-60 seconds, my dad left this earth.
At that moment, I felt like I was hit in the face with a baseball bat. I will never forget the feeling of fear, pain and hurt that I felt at that moment, but also joy that my dad was now in a better place.
The Sunday before that, my dad spoke for the last time. My wife and I were visiting him, and I bent down and told my dad I loved him, and with great effort, he told me that he loved me too. And that was the last words he said to me and to anyone ever again.
I am going to miss this amazing man who taught me so much. I am going to miss my role model, my dad, my friend.
Yesterday, I buried my father, but I know I am going to see him again. I was able to speak at my dad’s funeral, and I have included below what I said, and I will leave with that.
_____________
Austin O’Malley once said "An Englishman thinks sitting down, a Frenchman thinks standing, an American thinks pacing, and an Irishman thinks afterwards".
My dad was definitely Irish.
10 comments to “Goodbye, Dad”
22 December 2006 03:25 pm
I just wanted to say that I am so sorry for your loss, I don't know you, but if I did I would give you big hugs!! I don't normally comment on blogs, but you touched me, your dad touched me and I'm going to call and tell my dad I love him because of you.
22 December 2006 03:25 pm
Nate,
I'm sorry to hear of this. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
22 December 2006 03:25 pm
I'm sorry to hear your father has passed and my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. I'm sure your dad would have loved your speech at his funeral and I'm sure it made him smile. Take care Nate
22 December 2006 03:25 pm
Nate,
I am so absolutely sorry for your loss. I'm a few weeks away from the 5 year anniversary of losing my mother to Leukemia and the 4 year anniversary of losing my father to a heart attack (both on 2/3). I can empathize with your feeling of loss, the baseball bat to the face, and the hope in seeing them face to face with God as your witness. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and yours during this time.
22 December 2006 03:25 pm
I have no idea who you are, I arrived here via a random link, and I realize this story is exactly a month old. I've never experieced a loss like you have. However, I just wanted to let you know that I will keep you and your family in my prayers.
22 December 2006 03:25 pm
Athiests don't claim that there is no God. They simply claim (and rightly so) that there is no definitive proof of the existence of a God. I am not an atheist but I must say that this belief in an omniscient all powerful God is only a pretty recent thing.
22 December 2006 03:25 pm
With Tears on my eyes i read your post.God bless your father for give all the love that he give to you and God bless you because i am shure you gonna love your son like your father love you.I pray everyday to became a good father and one day i hope my son write sincere and beatifull lines for me like you write today.God bless you and you all family.
22 December 2006 03:25 pm
With Tears on my eyes i read your post.God bless your father for give all the love that he give to you and God bless you because i am shure you gonna love your son like your father love you.I pray everyday to became a good father and one day i hope my son write sincere and beatifull lines for me like you write today.God bless you and you all family.
22 December 2006 03:25 pm
That was beautiful and touching. I also have a dad who is my hero. We are very very blessed to have had people like this in our lives. God Bless!
22 December 2006 03:25 pm
You say "Most famous atheists had little or no relationship with their father." That's silly. You will first need to produce a full list of atheists, prove they are atheists, prove they are famous, then prove they had little or no relationship with their fathers. You really need to drop your prejudices; they are based in ignorance.