Thinking about my daddy

Tweet

My father died in an accident at the Weyerhaeuser mill he was working at when I was 18. I had just gotten married in March and the accident happened the following August. He had recently retired from the Coast Guard and was looking forward to settling down in NC where my mother was from. He was a Yankee from Illinois, but all our relatives adored him. He fit right in! My sister was 12 and my little brother was 6. My husband had to go to Alaska for six months in the Navy, so I went back to NC with my family instead of staying in Hawaii by myself. A couple of months after we arrived in NC, my father had gotten a job as an electrician at the mill. He was healthy, young (44), and thought he and my mother had many happy years ahead of them. On that terrible day, my daddy called to say he had to work over, helping another man who was training. I "happened" to be the one who answered the phone and we talked for a minute. A couple of hours later three men came to our door with the news. The night before, Daddy and I had just a slight argument, you know how it is, I left the ironing board up or something and he bumped into it. A couple of words, nothing too bad, but not the usual "good night, love you." Later I was so thankful to God that I had that last conversation with my father and knew that of course, he wasn't mad at me. He was his usual friendly self, talking to his oldest daughter and didn't know he was reassuring me how much he loved me. I'm so glad our last words were loving. Something odd that happened was when the men came to the door to tell us that my dad and the other man were both killed instantly when a huge paper roll fell on them, I was reading an article in Reader's Digest about how funeral homes can rip people off in times of grief. I've always thought that was strange. In December I went back to Hawaii to be with my husband for nine months until he got out of the Navy. My mother raised my sister and brother, but never remarried. Just a few words while thinking about my daddy. Life is so short...cherish your loved ones and tell them often that you love them.