One year ago today....

One year ago today was the last time I saw my father. It is so hard somedays still to believe that he is gone. This was the last "first year" difficult time to get through. For the most part I'm over the everyday sadness I felt in the beginning. This week was tough because it was the week dad had his stroke. We all spent the week at the hospital hoping for a miracle, but it never happened. I remember on the Friday morning we spoke with the doctor in charge of dad and he was amazed that dad had made it that far. We thought that dad had turned a corner and may make some sort of recovery. John and I went out to lunch just to get out of the hospital for a bit. When we came back we found out that dad's internal organs were shutting down, and he was slipping away. Just remembering those last few hours are hard. Watching dad die was an extremely difficult thing to do, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Being there so he wasn't alone was exactly what he always wanted. We broke many hospital rules that week as we never left his side. I miss you dad.