Yesterday was the second anniversay of my Dad's death. It was one of the hardest days of my life. He had a heart attach while in a rehab facility and they were able to bring him back, but no one knew how long he had be down. We knew that he wouldn't want to be kept alive by machines, in fact he had a living will stating just that fact. So after lots of thought and prayer, we decided to have them remove the machines. Sharla and I sat beside him and his breathing slowed and finally stopped. I had never experienced anything like it, such sadness at the loss and yet I knew it was the right thing to do. Daddy was a tease, he loved life and he wouldn't want to be a vegetable with a machine breathing for him. But to have to actually sign the DNR papers, and then the remove the life support papers was so very hard.
As a family I realized how blessed I was during that time. I had friends and family that jumped in to support me in so many ways. Tons of food was brought to the house, family flew in from out of state (Aunt Hazel even packed a ham and a cake and brought with her....yes she is officially amazing), people came to the hospital to check on us, not to mention the flowers and plants that were sent. It was a hard time, but through it I learned that I have some wonderful people in my life and I will always be grateful for that.
And as daddy would have wanted we found ways to laugh, little memories or family jokes that surfaced. Or the now famous "Water Buffalo Song" at least famous amoungst our family. Several years ago Callie took to singing the Veggie Tale's Water Buffalo song almost anytime you were with her. So when I got a cell phone were I could load my own ring tones I made one for her from that song. Soon it was the family ring tone for Callie, Sharla had it on her phone, Tom had it on his phone, and I had it on my phone. As we were at the funeral home making the arrangements, all of a sudden, one phone went off playing "Everybody's got a water buffalo, your's is fast but mine is slow", then the second phone, then the third phone. It was Callie texting us all that she loved us, because she knew where we where and what we were doing. Somehow that silly song made us all smile at a very sad moment. But I will always remember that smile, because it eased things so much.
As a family I realized how blessed I was during that time. I had friends and family that jumped in to support me in so many ways. Tons of food was brought to the house, family flew in from out of state (Aunt Hazel even packed a ham and a cake and brought with her....yes she is officially amazing), people came to the hospital to check on us, not to mention the flowers and plants that were sent. It was a hard time, but through it I learned that I have some wonderful people in my life and I will always be grateful for that.
And as daddy would have wanted we found ways to laugh, little memories or family jokes that surfaced. Or the now famous "Water Buffalo Song" at least famous amoungst our family. Several years ago Callie took to singing the Veggie Tale's Water Buffalo song almost anytime you were with her. So when I got a cell phone were I could load my own ring tones I made one for her from that song. Soon it was the family ring tone for Callie, Sharla had it on her phone, Tom had it on his phone, and I had it on my phone. As we were at the funeral home making the arrangements, all of a sudden, one phone went off playing "Everybody's got a water buffalo, your's is fast but mine is slow", then the second phone, then the third phone. It was Callie texting us all that she loved us, because she knew where we where and what we were doing. Somehow that silly song made us all smile at a very sad moment. But I will always remember that smile, because it eased things so much.
Here is a picture of Daddy at Wright Memorial the summer of 2000 with his most favorite people in the world.
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