My Dad

My Dad went downhill quickly after we visited for a couple of days in mid-January. He stopped calling just to check on us. And he was in more and more pain. I am so glad that we traveled to visit him when we did, even though he tried to talk me out of it. If we had waited three more weeks (which would have been necessary because of my chemo cycle), he would not have been able to visit with us because he was sleeping most of the time.

By February 1st, he could not walk. Mom had died 13 years ago on February 4th, so I thought he might pass away on that day. Instead, he died at 9 AM on Monday, February 8th, at the age of 80. Both Mom and Dad died on a Monday morning - and both the day after the Super Bowl. I will never understand that one.

Two of my sisters (out of five) are RN's. One of them helped care for Dad during the day.  The other took care of him at night for the last week, so our step-Mom could sleep.

We are thankful that Dad did not suffer long - and now he is in God's presence, worshiping before the throne. He was ready to die because he had given his life to Christ when he prayed a prayer of repentance at the age of 12. I am thankful for the example that both Dad and Mom were for me and my sisters.

Because my immune system was back to normal post-chemo, and I was feeling good, I was able to not only go to the funeral, but also to preach the sermon. This was something that I really wanted to do. Few people knew him better than I did. Hope was able to get a couple of days off work to go with us, while Laura was unable to attend.

We stayed in a hotel in Grand Rapids because my stepmom was having issues with her well and her two sons were there with her. It was very nice to be able to swim and enjoy the hot tub - which is something that I could not have done while I had the PICC line in!

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, funerals are a bit different in Minnesota. Rather than having visitation the evening before, with the last hour for family, the visitation time was one hour before the funeral. And there was no luncheon following the funeral. We missed that additional time of visiting with friends and family.

Unfortunately, that week was the coldest week of the winter. On Saturday morning, which was the coldest day of the week, the day after the funeral, and the day of our return to Iowa, it was -33 F (-40 is where Fahrenheit and Celsius temperatures are identical). With the very cold temperatures, we held the committal service in the church foyer instead of at the cemetery.

Evidently there were several veterans who at funerals in Grand Rapids the same day, so the military honors were done at the beginning of the funeral instead of at the end. Thankfully, I made it through the playing of "Taps" without tears. While Dad never served overseas, he did serve in the Army Reserves while I was young.

Here is a picture from our last visit (which I shared in an earlier blog post), just 4 weeks before he passed away:

Needless to say, he is missed!

If you want to watch the funeral, you can do so here.