|
One early Saturday morning in May 1996, Dad was driving to work at the coffee shop that he and my Mom had owned for almost thirty years when he was hit head-on by a drunk driver.
It was the beginning of the end.
Slow recovery from his injuries led to the discovery of a malignant tumor in September 1996 -- an extremely rare form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. In October 1996, he began a gruelling duo-chemotherapy session.
It seemed to be working. The tumor was shrinking, and by Christmas 1996 he was looking forward to the end of chemo and on to better things ahead.
It was not to be.
On January 9, 1997, Dad had a heart attack that left him in a coma -- irreversibly brain-damaged. He was called to Heaven on January 30, 1997. The world lost one of the finest men that ever set foot on its ground that day, but our loss has been Heaven's gain.
Dad was:
A man who had a heart of gold,
A man who's soul could not be sold,
A man who believed in the good of all,
A man who always stood proud and tall.
A man who worked both day and night,
A man whose spirit shone so bright,
A man who'd whistle a happy tune,
A man whose life was taken too soon.
This man was oh, so special to me,
And the reason that is why, you see,
Is because right up until the end,
He was my Dad,
My "Pa,"
My friend.
I love you and miss you, Dad.
|
