My Dad

Three years ago today my dad left us to go to heaven. I miss him so much. He was soon to be 96 years old. He and my mom had recently celebrated 72 years of marriage. While it's very sad to me to think about, at the same time I have wonderful memories of the day he died! My brother, Richard, and I had both gone out to be with Mother and Dad, and with our sister, Lorraine, because his health was failing. They were living in a senior community. However, he seemed to be stable so on Saturday we were thinking we should go home, probably on Monday, with Christmas so near, knowing we'd have to return sometime soon. Sunday morning I left our cabin early so I could go to visit Dad before going to church. Oh my goodness, he was so alert and in such good spirits I asked him if he'd like to go home. (He was in nursing) He said yes, he'd like that, so I pushed him in his wheel chair to the wing where they had their apartment. My mom was so surprised to see us! Let me back up here to say that before I left home I had made a birthday card for Dad and had put pictures of him and me on it. 1) I was one, he was 28; 2) I was 11, he was 39; 3) he was walking me down the aisle, I was 20, he was 48; 4) as we were then, I was 67, he was 91. I called Richard at our cabin and asked him to bring the card in the pocket of my suitcase so I could give it to him now instead of waiting four more days to his birthday. When I gave it to Dad, he loved it...he understood what I was trying to say. There was a wonderful feeling between us. We skipped church that day but had a wonderful time just visiting, reminiscing, looking over Christmas cards, etc. I took Dad back to his room at lunch time. That afternoon we all went back to his room to visit again...but Dad was no longer alert. We don't even know if he was aware of who we were. That evening we got a call - Dad was gone.
Thank You, Lord, for Dad. Thank You for the wonderful memories I have of him. Thank You for those precious hours You gave us with him on Dec. 18, 2005. Thank You for his heavenly home today and that some day I'll see him again.