Reflecting on Dad

As of today I have outlived my dad.

Several years ago I stumbled across a website that would calculate the time between two dates. Wondering when I would outlive my father I plugged in the dates and found out today is the day.

Dad passed away on December 2, 1967, as a result of his third heart attack. The episode actually happened around September 20 of that year. I’ve heard various accounts of what happened, but I do know he had stopped by the field across the road from our house where they were harvesting corn to see how things were going when he began to feel bad. He was taken home and then to the Baptist Hospital in Nashville where he spent several weeks. He came home for Thanksgiving but returned to the hospital in Springfield where he passed away.

I’ve often wondered if he knew his death was near and what crossed his mind as he thought about his life. He and mom had only been married nine years, and I had just celebrated my first birthday that summer. Did he think much about the things he would never get to experience, or did he feel too bad to ponder it much?

That being what it is, I am so thankful I have gotten to be part of my kids’ lives. It is such a pleasure to watch as they grow up. At the risk of tooting my own horn, I think they’re turning out pretty well.

At any rate, I’ve known this day was coming for quite some time. In all honesty, it has been hard for me to deal with it the closer I got to this day. By the grace of God I’ve made it here, and I appreciate every day He gives me.

Joe