Monday, October 25, 2010

Worst day ever...

You know how some days everything just keeps going wrong and getting worse??  Well October 22nd, 2010 was like that for me.  Little things started out going wrong and then bigger things started going wrong and then one of the biggest things went wrong.

It started out with not being able to sleep well the night before.  There was a late phone call with rather ominous news about my father who was living abroad.  He had been dealing with a string of illnesses that were related to his choice of lifestyle.  The time difference between where he was living and I live made it so that the nights and days were reversed so it was very difficult to get information.

So after a rough night my exuberant children were up before 6am which is not uncommon for them.  I was dragging after very little sleep, but determined to follow through with my plans to go for a run in the morning rather than evening so I could at least enjoy the daylight (if not the sunshine).  I wedged both kids into the double chariot stroller and off we went.  Well of course they wouldn't sit nicely in such a confined space.  So my run ended early with hauling out the older child and making him walk beside me.

Once at home I checked my email and found a note that I wasn't the successful candidate for a job that I had interviewed for.  It wasn't a huge surprise since the interview had been at least a month ago, but it was still confirmation and the destruction of the last holdouts of my optimism. 

Finally it was lunch which meant that it would be time for my older son to go to preschool and then my younger son would nap and I would have a whole hour (or more) of peace and quiet!  We walked to the school and back.  I had just put my son to bed and was talking to my husband on the phone when the door bell rang.

My doorbell never rings.  Honestly I wasn't entirely sure it still worked.  I rushed to the door (fingers crossed that my younger son wouldn't wake) with the intent of getting rid of what ever sales person or charity or religious group was at my door.   Upon opening the door time stopped. 

On my step were two police officers.  Since I am a law abiding citizen I knew they could only be there to deliver bad news.  Fortunately I had been talking to my husband when the doorbell rang so I knew that he was ok.  That only left one real possibility.  Dad.

My Dad was living in Thailand for the past year and a half and I new that he had had a series of illnesses.  We (my aunt and I ) had been in communication with some of my Dad's friends there and had been receiving calls from his lady friend that he was in hospital.  He had been in hospital a few times, but it sounded like he had rallied and was improving until his last visit.  My Dad was a survivor who had over come the odds of heart disease at a relatively young age.  He was retired and was living his dream.  It wasn't possible that he would die.  Especially so far away.

Unfortunately as the saying goes the only sure thing in life is death.  Death has now touched down near my family. 

1 comment:

  1. Oh shannon, I am so sorry. Please let me know if you need anything.

    ReplyDelete