My father passed today.

My father died this morning. I was walking on the beach in Hilton Head, South Carolina in the morning, taking pictures of jellyfish and crabs, conch and watching bottle nose porpoises slowly making their way to breakfast. At home my father had bought his morning coffee and sausage biscuit from McDonalds and sitting down to eat.

The call came from my sister Debbie to pray. He had a pain in his neck and after my Mom rubbed a little salve as was the custom, he moved chairs, and then slumped over. It was about 8:30, about the time I had been calling them in the morning on my way to work.

Three weeks ago we had a premonitory incident on a Sunday and I was deeply afraid I had lost him without much contact since we'd returned from Germany. I must always regret taking my chances to visit him this weekend. We almost made it, but I had almost daily if brief phone conversations with him and mother these last weeks.  Stefanie was able to see him in person two weeks ago and Tom/Sophie were able to speak with him on the phone as well.

He made a quick recovery after that spell and had been fairly well since, apart from some sneezing episodes two weekends ago.  All four of my sisters had seen him in the last month, including many nephews and his one great granddaughter.

Our turn was this weekend. We were in South Carolina and were coming down Saturday. Debbie's call this morning was clearly more urgent than any before. We were just about back from our morning walk on the beach. A call to my sister Patricia some twenty minutes later made it clear that it didn't look good. They had shocked him three times and were still having trouble getting a rhythm. They were still in the ambulance in front of the house.

A call to Mom about 9:30, and he was at the hospital. She put on a good voice and had stayed home. Patricia had gone. Maybe 10am and Debbie called to say he was gone.

Angie and I went to tell Tom and Sophie. They had quickly packed while I showered but did not have the final word. They were playing Foosball. On the way across the garden of the Marriott Monarch I saw a magnificent blue heron. It was stately and reminded me of my father, a truly great man.

Much of the timing was providential. We were nearby in South Carolina. My wife's sister Teresa was to drive right by Lakeland that very morning and I could ride with her. The funeral will be later this week while we are already here. It was a good day for eternity.