I held his hand as…

My Dad Died 23 Years Ago Tonight

And the kindness of strangers…

23 years ago tonight my Dad died…

He’d gone into the hospital that week, something that happened with increasing frequency. I was considering not going to visit. When I spoke to him Thursday night something in his voice told me I needed to make the trip from Tallahassee to New Smyrna Beach the next day.

I got there Friday afternoon, spent a few hours with him and then went to my parent’s house near the beach.

He went into his final cardiac arrest just a couple of hours after I left.

I’ll always believe he waited for me…

The hospital called and we rushed up there.

I have many memories of that night, including the privilege of holding his hand as he passed…

And here’s one that’s stayed with me all these years:

We got back to my mom and sister’s house around 2 am. I decided I really didn’t want to stay there since my mom was a heavy smoker and I was too wired to sleep anyway.

So I decided to drive back to Tallahassee to get my family and come back down to plan the funeral.

I grabbed my Dad’s FSU watch to wear back and stopped at the Shell station at Hwy 44 and I-95 to load up on Mr Pibb and chocolate to fuel me for the 5 hour drive in the wee hours.

Here’s the conversation as I’m checking out:

Cashier: “So you’re an FSU fan too?

Me: “Sure am, how’d you know?”

Cashier: Motions towards my Dad’s watch…

Me: “Oh Yeah! It’s my Dad’s watch. He just now passed at Fish Memorial and I’m heading back to Tallahassee to get my family.”

Cashier: “I’m sorry for your loss and your stuff is on me”

It wasn’t more than 15 bucks but you know what? More than the caffeine, what fueled that long drive in the wee hours was the kindness of a stranger…

PS: By the way Dad, you’ve got a couple of pretty cool grandsons in Jon & Caleb

Hope I’ve done half as good by them as you did by me. Say hello to God for me….

PPS: And just one more thing, now you’ve got a “player-to-be-named-later” great-grandson on the way. Stay tuned…