{The Post You Never Want To Write}

I'm having to write a post I never thought I would have to write at the age of 40 {or anytime soon for that matter}.  On Thursday, September 26th, my dad passed away.  Just seeing those words in writing makes it real yet unbelievable all at the same time.  

I'm not going to go into all the details, but he hadn't been feeling good for over a year.  They went to doctor after doctor, had blood work & tests done, but they were unable to find anything wrong.  He was ok during the day on Wednesday, even bbq'ed steaks that evening.  Within a short amount of time later that night, things went from bad to worse.  EMS was called & he was unresponsive by the time they got there.  They were able to get a pulse & took him to College Station.

We later found out that he had a "heart episode" & 2 catastrophic strokes.  He passed away on Thursday evening.  Unfortunately we still don't know what was wrong with him or what caused the events on Wednesday night to happen.

To say the past 3 weeks have been a blur would be an understatement.  The days following consisted of planning, the visitation & the funeral...and lots of family time which is exactly what everyone needed.  I had a house full of people for almost 2 weeks straight and although I wish it would have been under different circumstances, it definitely showed what kind of family we are.

We did a military funeral & every single thing about it was wonderful.  The outpouring of support from our family & friends has been incredible.  Visitation lasted over 4 hours & we had over 400 people come through.  At least that many people showed up at the funeral as well.  We have had a fridge full of food & my guest room looked like a florist. 

 

 

It's been 3 weeks today & we are slowly starting to adjust to our "new normal" & figure out where to go from here.  Mom is staying with me for now...one day at a time - that's our new motto.  My Dad was a quiet man & never said a lot.  He didn't show his feelings, but he knew we loved him & we knew he loved us...and things will never be the same without him.