My father passed on Sunday afternoon (my brother's birthday) and was taken by the funeral parlor on Sunday evening. He fought us quite a bit - he was stubborn and 'never needed any help'. In the end, we needed help and we called Hospice. They accepted him into the program late Tuesday evening. Bed came on Wednesday and we got him into it when nurses came on Thursday. He finally admitted that he was comfortable in that bed.

On Saturday, my daughter (who has been having severe health issues herself) and I went to see my father. They used to eat 'KitKats' together for years (it was my father's favorite). She bought mini KitKats for him and we all had one together on Saturday afternoon.

Early Sunday morning, I went to Costco to get some things for my mother. I stopped at my girlfriend's house for a cup of coffee. I was just going to tell my girlfriend that I needed to get home to pick my husband up so that we could go see my father together. At that moment the phone rang and my brother told me to come - NOW. I called my husband and told him that I was going to go to my parent's house right away and would come back to get him later on (we were having car trouble so he didn't have his own wheels). By the time I got to my parent's house, he had already passed.

His wishes were to have no fanfare - just a simple cremation and perhaps a few words. Our pastor is retired and is also having surgery ~ so we went to the funeral parlor yesterday and spent some time with my father. In a few weeks, our Pastor will come and we will all go out with some close family and friends and have a 'celebration of life' for my father.

THANK YOU all for all of the condolences ... I will read/cherish them all.
This truly is a community that shows love/concern/friendship when times are the most difficult.