Bye Bye Daddy

I was the surprise baby.
My sister, Lisa, was first, when Mom was 20. Eddie arrived six years later.
Ten years after Lisa, I was a complete surprise to everyone. Against the advice of her doctor, Mom welcomed the chance to be a mother for a third time. (I'm glad! Thanks, Mom!)

Mom stayed at home and raised us until I was in middle school, then she got a job as a secretary, finally using her college education for something other than motherhood.

Daddy worked and traveled for as long as I remember. Lisa tells me of a time when she was little that Daddy worked in the office and was home every night. By the time I was aware, Daddy was a marketing executive with responsibilities that took back and forth across the country.

Daddy finally retired at 65, six years ago. He had always been healthy and active, despite working most of his life at a desk, so it wasn't surprising when he began working on projects around the house and volunteering to help people in the neighborhood and at the church. He was highly respected in the neighborhood and everyone with which he spent any time.

Daddy was working on a project at our church when he had a fall, breaking his right leg. When the doctors examined his leg, they asked him about his right hip. We didn't know he had been in pain for a few years. Daddy soldiered on, figuring it was just age catching up with him.

His leg would not heal properly if he didn't walk as normally as possible, once the break was mended. They proposed and Daddy agreed to a simple procedure to correct a spur that was rubbing in his hip, causing the pain.  The setting of the leg and fixing his hip would take a couple of hours and they promised to have him up and moving by the next morning.

The procedure started early on October 5th and went perfectly. The morning of the 6th (the next day), Daddy went to physical therapy where they were going to get him retraining himself to walk normally again. He did well, his doctors were pleased with the surgery and his progress, saying that if he continued this way, he'd be back to better than normal in 7-10 days.

After lunch, while waiting for the doctor, he collapsed, losing consciousness. He roused to a groggy state that evening, but slipped back out during the night. He stayed unconscious, as if asleep, for a month until his heart slowed and stopped at just before midnight. Daddy just slipped away.

I will always love you.
Bye Bye Daddy.