On the Second Anniversary of My Dad’s Death
What facing fear and grief has taught me about love.
Two years ago, I had both the heartbreak and the privilege of being with my Dad as he died.
From that moment on, I was changed. I didn’t even try for this — it just was.
To fully show up with love for someone in the face of their death is to inhabit your highest self.
It’s something I never thought I would be capable of, but it was what my Dad deserved — to have his family’s loving support as he made his big transition.
I’m still so proud of us all for showing up for him like that. We did things our way. While he was being transported home for hospice care we decorated our living room and his hospital bed to celebrate his life and his journey. We looked for moments to laugh as well as cry. My sisters and I laid down on top of each other in a heap right after he passed, just letting all of our emotions out in a wild, sloppy mess. Under our Mom’s leadership our family stayed tightly together.
This wasn’t what any of us, our Dad included, were planning for or wanted. But we accepted the challenge that love threw down. To use death to learn more about love.
