The Fateful Morning

It seemed her life ended and began on that early morning.

Living so far out of town, sometimes it was easier for Nells to sleep with the kids at her parents' house on work nights, it saved waking up at the crack of dawn, pack diaper bags and drive an extra two hours each day with grumpy babies. This day should have been like every other day, wake up, feed the kids, drive them to day care, go to work, but today was not like every other day.

Nells woke up to her father, Ian, coming out of his room, he was never quiet really, he had been sick for so many years, and the oxygen tank he pulled around usually hit a wall or two in his short travels from room to room. This noise was different, everything seemed slower, darker, something was not right. Ian came out of the room mumbling, he placed his forehead against the wall outside his room, and continued to mumble non-sensicle gibberish. Nells sat up, she had her oldest son laying with her on the sofa, she gently rolled him over and stood up to go to Ian. Ian turned around, he spoke clearly now, and asked that the upper water reservoir be turned on and for the pipes to be connected. Ian wasn't there, Ian was up North where he loved to spend his summers placer mining, was he sleep walking? Nells wondered. Ian turned and fell, Nells grabbed her phone and called 9-11, it was tunnel vision at this point, she began administering CPR to her father. Nells glanced up and saw her sons big blue eyes staring at her, she didn't know what to do. She heard in the background the sound of her mother screaming as she ran to the front yard, she heard the distant sound of sirens. The paramedics came in and were given the Do not Resuscitate papers from Nells' mother, Nells didn't want to stop, not now, it wasn't his time.

Nells sat against the wall while the paramedics took him away, they were kind, they sat with her son and gave him a teddy bear while Nells sat lost in her thoughts, in particular, how was she going to tell her little sister? Nells called her sister's boyfriend and asked him to meet her at her house, where they went to deliver the heart breaking news.

A few days later Nells and her sister Darcy were helping their mother organize some things around the house, she was going to go away for awhile, she could not stay in the house alone any longer. They were packing up Ians office space, and that's when they came across a bound black book, Nells and Darcy spent a considerable amount of time in this office, helping to place his beloved stamp collection together, but this book was new to them both. Nells slowly opened the cover, to discover her fathers beautiful, delicate handwriting, in which she read, choking back tears "My Nelly bear and amazing Darce, I've known this is coming for a long time now, I know you girls always hoped that some miracle would happen and I would recover, but it just wasn't in my cards. Don't be sad, be happy, love freely and laugh often. Cherish my sweet grand-babies and always tell them I love them. Although I can't be with you now, know that if I can watch over you, I will be always. I know this won't make up for the fact that I am gone now, but inside you will find all of the details of the accounts I have put away for you girls over the years. Please do something for yourselves with it, go somewhere hot and wonderful, play with the kids in the sand, and watch a sunset or two for me. I love you always. - Dad". Both Nells and Darcy were near hysterical by the end of the letter, they took turns reading the note a few more times before turning the pages. Inside the book was the information for enough money for the girls to be secure and content for quite some time, and while it was a nice surprise, the girls knew the piece of the heart that cherished Ian would never be mended.

Nells and Darcy took the four kids to Florida that winter. They explored Islamorada and watched the sunsets on the peak of Key West while the kids built a clumsy sand castle. As the sun set over a stunning pink and orange sky, the girls recounted the countless happy memories of Ian and gave a toast with sippy cups and apple juice to the beautiful life they were given by a the worlds most wonderful man and his little black book.