photo: CCO public domain
I will never forget the day the phone rang in my home in Jamaica, November 28, 1973,
Delivering what was the worst news of my life, at that point.
A friend we knew in Ft. Lauderdale said, “Hold on a minute Martha. I’ll put your mom on the phone.”
My mom got on the phone and said, “Your dad went to be with the Lord today.”
In a classic state of denial, I said, “You mean Grandaddy. (Our elderly demented, dearly loved grandfather.)
“No,” she said, “Your dad.”
At that point, she told me the details of his shocking and untimely death that day.
He died of a sudden heart attack at age 54 while in his office at church.
He wasn’t feeling well, because he got up to sit in the chair nearby from his chair at the desk.
But he didn’t think it was bad enough to call his secretary in the next room. stop
Most likely denial.
Saving him might have been quite difficult at the time.
The clot was located in the part of the coronary artery called the widow maker.
It was 1973.
They didn’t do all those cardiac caths like they do now.
I had an almost 2 1/2 year old and a 7 month old.
My dad’s parents outlived their only child.
My youngest sister was 8. (considerably younger than the rest of us for sure!)
Shock, numbness, questioning and anger filled much of 1974, at least for me.
I was turning to GOD, but it wasn’t polite or neat.
It was a big sloppy mess of tears, what-ifs, why’s what a waste of time! and screaming.
The grief for my dad, which was huge, was further complicated by undealt-with grief over
The death of our stillborn daughter 3+ years before!
As I read books on death, I realized how little I had been cared for then.
And how little I knew how to care for myself at the time.
In the end, I realized I needed Jesus in ways I never realized before!
That without Him, I was never going to make it through the rest of my life…ever.
My father died when I was 27. It was in the last weeks of his life that we really started talking, heart to heart. He was not a very religious man but he told me that if there was more after this, he would come back to tell me. In many ways he has communicated that fact. I hate that life is transitory, but I love that there is a life after this one.
that’s how old i was too…just a few months from turning 28. yes, it is comforting to know there is another life after this one. we still miss our loved ones for now, but it is comforting to know we will see them someday.
Wow, that’s the kind of news you never want to hear. I remember a phone call years ago from my brother about my dad being in the hospital. After I couple of weeks I went to be with them, too, and shortly after my dad went to be with the Lord. He was only 65. I’m so thankful for God’s love and for loving friends. But it is hard, isn’t it? “In the end, I realized I needed Jesus in ways I never realized before!” Yes, me too. I’m your neighbor at Five Minute Friday.
we certainly don’t wish grief like this on our worst enemy, but in the end, GOD does teach us things we wouldn’t learn any other way.
THIS: “In the end, I realized I needed Jesus in ways I never realized before! That without Him, I was never going to make it through the rest of my life…ever.” So so true. Grief is never easy. I’m over in the #13 spot this week.
i’ll see you soon tara:) the way i wrote it sounded so easy. took a long time and many tears to get there…and it really hasn’t been a static position. i just think it was the first time i learned it in a true way!