LSNED 2012 - September 1

I don't have time to do a proper paper project being that my personal life is a mess, so I will play catch up on my blog here. So that being said, here is my posting for the September 1st prompt from Shimelle's Learn Something New Every Day class for 2012.

My name is Denise and today is the first of September 2012. The last big adventure of my life would probably be...my death. I've seen others whose remaining year was one of struggle and pain. Watching my Dad work so hard to recover from his broken hip, only to die suddenly of heart failure...without warning...it has made me realize that I can lose someone I love in the blink of an eye. The nurse said to me on the phone at three in the afternoon that he was doing fine...that everything was okay. At five o'clock my Mom called me and said to hurry up and get my brother and come to the house where, she and my other brother were waiting. Dad was dying and might be dead before we got to the hospital to see him.

I had visited my Dad the night before and was going to see him the day he died, but an aunt of mine who is a registered nurse said it would be better to give him a day of rest...that we could see him the day after. I will always regret doing that. I could have talked to him one last time, given him more hugs, and told him again how much I loved him before leaving him that day. All I got instead was sitting by his side, holding his hand and say those words to him without seeing him looking back at me with those piercing green eyes.

I miss the sound of my Dad's voice, the warmth of his huge hugs, and the twinkle in his eyes when he was up to something. My Dad was a man's man, a great father, a great husband, and an adored Pop-Pop. He did so much with his life and he did it while living with the constant pain of migraines and arthritis.

So my final adventure will be in the way I die. Will I be as strong as my Dad. Will I face my death with dignity and strength the way he did? I hope so. I pray so.