On September 6th of 2011, my Dad finally took his last breath. It had been a quick and sudden death with very little warning. We had spent out summer out at our cabin and had a amazing time, his back hurt a bit, but that wasn't unusual so we wrote it off, however he started getting really sick. We went home a day early, slept, and then the next morning when he wasn't any better, in fact he was worse, my Mom took him into the hospital. A few hours later, me and my brother Alex got a call, we had to come to the hospital fast. Me and Alex headed and met our grandparents and other two brothers there along with a few other extended family members. We were told that my Dads bowels were dying and they were going to go into surgery, and that it was risky. They allowed us some time alone with him before he went into the surgery though, he had his parents, his wife, his three sons, and his baby girl around his bedside, he was tired and hurting, but told us how much he loved us. Through my tears I asked him to tell me one final bedtime story, its called the schnigginfritz, it was a story he had made up back when my older brothers had been little, because he would tuck us into bed each night and tell us a story, but some nights he would be too tired to read one, so he created one. After he told us the story, he gave his wedding band to Alex and said "Take good care of that, I'll be wanting it back" and gave me his engineering ring. With his very little strength he gave me a hug as I left the room, the last words I know my Father heard me say were "See you in a few hours Dad". I did see him in a few hours, just not in the way I had thought. The surgery had not been successful, they couldn't find any live bowel tissue, but they left him open, saying they would try operating again. They tried once more a day or so later, but again there was no live tissue, they tried one final time before the announced it was futile, that my Daddy could not live. I couldn't be there when they turned off the life support, it was too hard. I was at home, talking to my boyfriend on the phone how scared I was when my Aunt Karen told me that it happened, that he was gone. In that moment I had never felt so alone. Nothing made sense, I was so angry with life, that God could take away my Daddy from me when I still needed him, I was even mad at my Dad for leaving me, even though I knew it wasn't his choice. Everyone else was still at the hospital other than my aunt Karen and I, so we just cried together. Losing my Dad was not in the plans for my life, but I remembered a talk that had been given at EFY, it had been the thursday night, my cousin had actually been the session director, he called up a boy named Jaden, Who told us about the death of his brother which had happened right before EFY, and how much the atonement meant to him. It didn't just mean we were forgiven of our sins, it meant we were worthy to enter heaven, and that one day we would be able to see those who we had lost. Steve (my cousin) had called me earlier that week and talked to me about it. I cried so hard, I missed my Dad, and I did not understand what was happening, but I knew if anyone deserved to go to heaven, that it was my Dad. I miss him more than anything, and I still don't understand why he had to go, but I know he is in heaven, My Dad was and is my hero, I will always be his little girl, one day, I will be with him again, until then, I will continue to pray for the strength to continue.
- Katie
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