Pelican Parts Forums - Had to check Dad into hospice today

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seahawk (Post 3529263)

If it is any consolation:

Near the end of my Mothers life (she has struggled against cancer for over a year) my Dad called and said that I need to get home, that he wanted me there. Mom was in bad shape. I was a young Navy LT flying test at Patuxent River. I caught the first plan out of DC.

She died before my plane landed. My father met me at the airport and we both cried all the way home...my Father is a veteran of two wars, one of the only really smart, humble people I have ever known. The loss of Arden nearly shattered him.

Near the end of the ride home we made a pact...that we would celebrate her life, the good and the bad, that we would acknowledge all she meant to us, that we would welcome the memories of her life. Arden's wake was a riot of memory and laughter. We may have been hiding tears, but we were celebrating her life, not her death.

Life is fraught with peril...what my Dad and I came to grips with is that we got to know and love a remarkable woman. While I never met your Father, I think you understand the sentiment.

Seventeen years later I still miss her and think about her all the time, as you will your Father all the rest of your life. My experience is that it is better we remember, that we welcome their presense.

All the best in the coming days. May you find strength.

So sorry to hear this Targa...

Almost the same type of situation here as with SeaHawk.

Was based at Tempelhof Air Force Base in Berlin Germany. Dad had been in bad shape with bone cancer, bedridden at home for 6 months on a morphine drip. Sisters called and said "get home now." Talked my way onto a Pan Am jet heading for CONUS then got the first ticket I could to St. Louis.

Called the hospital when I landed at 10:30 pm and my sisters let him know I was home. Asked if I should head to the hospital now or see him first thing in the morning? He said "morning is fine, not going anywhere"...

He went into a coma at 04:30 that next morning, passing around 09:00.

We buried him a few days later in Iowa where he was born. On the drive back to STL we stopped in Kansas City Missouri at Stevenson's Apple Farm for a dinner of smoked chicken, one of his favorite places to eat. Drunk ourselves silly on apple cider talking about stories about him and paid for it with a credit card that my Father had given me a year ago for "one last dinner in his name" then headed home.

It gets easier with time, but not much. Remember the good times you had and what he taught you, and pass it along. That way he will always be with you and your family.