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My husband’s father passed away recently. Although I have
experienced death before this time things were different. My husband was raised
by a single mother. His dad was present in his life as the part-time weekend
dad. He wasn’t an ideal father. He had his short comings as everyone else does.
I couldn’t help but think about his past, what he might of endured growing up
that cultivated him into the man he was on his death bed. Some would call him a "dead beat dad", not me, he served his purpose.
When my husband got the call I was sound asleep, and rather
than wake me up he went to the other room and once done with the call silently
crawled back into bed. Then in the morning he woke up, kissed my forehead and
woke me up with, “Good morning mi amor, have a good day”. Once up and ready for
work my daughter scrolling through the Facebook news feed read the news that my
father in law had passed away. I quickly called my husband and he told me, “I
didn’t want to ruin your morning, but I got the call last night” and I just
took a deep breath and said, “are you OK?” he said yes and changed the subject
to shift my direction that he was at work and needed to get off the phone.
I was surprised, days followed and nothing, just silence. He
was his normal self and I worried about how this was affecting him internally. After
all it was his dad, good or bad, there is a sense of connection with this man
and I wondered what was going on. I know I didn’t marry a cold man; this is the
same man who cried as I walked down the isle, he was not heartless. Yet I didn’t
see him cry.
As the weekend approached I tried to cancel plans but my
husband was insistent that it was business as usual.
So on Saturday my husband
worked all day without a bite to eat, just indulged into his work. That evening
was out date night with another couple. Now my husband is not one to get drunk
at all, but he had a beer on an empty stomach and became very chatty. I must
admit I loved it as he is not one to talk about his feelings; he normally
deflects emotions with jokes and laughs his pain away. But he sat back in the
car on his way home and told me that the day he got the call of his fathers
death he dreamed he was opening the door to a smoldering hot furnace, then
quickly followed with, “I do not equate dreams with reality” as he knew my mind
sent me into worry.
Then he leaned back and said,
“Is the world a horrible place without my father? No, it’s probably better without him, but at the end of the day, he still my dad.”
I couldn’t help it at this point; tears were strolling
down my face. Not everyone gets the super hero dad my husband is. Then he said,
“I couldn’t help but think of the people I knew he hurt, so I thought it would be best that I called them to tell them he was gone and as his son I wanted to apologize for the pain he caused them”.
That was quite the burden to take on.
Today my thoughts are lost on my husband. That was such a
heavy burden to take on but what an honorable way to honor his father. His
presence and absence in my husband’s life somehow shaped the amazing man that
he is today. My husband has the kind heart of his mother but his amazing gift
to create is one that people often credit to his father. He had the best of
both worlds captured in him and he is
such a good husband, good father, good friend, so loving and caring, and the kind
of man that does things in secret never seeking applause. Would he be that way, had his father been present more?
Things that make you go hmmmm.
But I will say this; I honor my father in law. He blessed my
life tremendously and because of him I see that God makes no mistakes. My Clark
Kent walks the earth by my side because of him. Every life has purpose and
everyone will fulfill what God desires of them. My father in law may not have
been the ideal person, but he left this world leaving some amazing treasures,
doing amazing things and for that I honor him.
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