The month of April was pretty rough for me. New baby, husband out of town, no sleep, 4 year old...the usual. So I thought it would be really nice to go home and see my family in Texas the first weekend in May. See, it was my dad's 60th birthday that Saturday. My sister and her new fiance were coming into town especially for the occasion...the whole family was going to be there. So I put myself and the kids on a plane and headed to Texas.
The weekend started like any other at home. Hugs to the parents, Dad cooked dinner for us (something he loved to do. Dad used to be in the restaurant biz. My passion for food stems from him), watched some TV, cooed over the baby...just spent time with family. That's how we do it. We just enjoy each other's company.
That Saturday was the big day, my dad's birthday. I didn't see my dad that morning....I was sleeping in...long night of feeding baby. He was going to work that morning, "just for a little bit", so he told my sister when they passed in the hallway. We went about our morning, getting ready for the birthday party later that night. I was all excited to make him my very special chocolate cake.
We were ready to go and started heading to the car. Now my parents have a driveway that accommodated one car wide so all our cars are out front are lined up like ducks. If one person wants to go somewhere we have a circus act of car moving. Takes coordination. Dad's car was still there. He was supposed to be at work half an hour ago.
And that's about when my life changed forever. When all our lives did.
Dad suffered a major cardiac arrest. When we found him upstairs, he had already gone.
JR Barnes
JR Barnes
1953-2013
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