May 4, 2022
I’m sitting by my father’s bed as he slowly slips from this life into eternity. He’s ready. He’s been ready. If he’d had his way, he would have packed up, locked the door and left with Mama a year-and-a-half ago. He survived without her, but you could tell something was missing in his life. When he decided to move to an assisted living facility he was looking for people he could talk with and make some new friends. He did that and while he wondered why he wasn’t taken I have to believe one reason was to touch some new lives that he had never met until he moved into the community. Residents became close friends quickly and all of the care givers and staff noted what a “sweet man” he was. Residents would stop me in the halls to ask “how’s your dad today”?
As his condition deteriorated he stayed in his apartment more and had his meals delivered instead of going to the cafeteria, prompting even more questions from friends about his condition. When he was able, we’d go for a wheelchair ride and he would sometimes have a chance to joke around with some of his new friends. It was easy for me to see that Daddy was “planted” in this assisted living community to be a ray of sunshine and hope to many people.
Now I sit by his side hearing him breathe, struggling to exit this world. He is not responsive, just breathing. We’ve been told that hearing is the last sense lost and that we should talk to him and assure him that we are all okay; that we don’t want to lose him but we don’t want to see him struggle this way and he can let go now. I think we’ve all had a run at sharing those thoughts with him, so now there’s nothing left to do but wait. Wait for that last breath that will reunite him with the woman he loves and their Lord that bound them together.
May 6, 2022
Daddy is still struggling to cross over. I don’t know if he has unfinished business or exactly what’s holding him here, but he’s fighting hard. The elusive last breath came about 10:30 this evening. Daddy is at peace; Daddy is at rest; Daddy is home.
May 8, 2022
The eve of the day I have dreaded for a long time; Daddy’s memorial service is tomorrow morning. I dread it; have dreaded it for years. But I’m also anxious to move on. I know Daddy isn’t suffering anymore and I know he’s infinitely happy, but I know that I am going to miss him so badly and I can’t imagine how that is going to feel.
carterscues 