The loving look that was held in my father’s eyes made everyone stop and smile at the man lying in the hospital bed. Finally alive and awakened from a deep coma, my dad was laughing and elated to see my mom and my siblings there and happy that he is back in our lives. This is obviously a far cry from the voice of death and self-pity that I came across in written form, and I find it strange that he led me to his diary in the first place.
Something happened to my father when he fell into a coma. Something so life changing turned his deadened spirit around so that he could come back to me. A joy for life and love has possessed his spirit and brought him back into a world where anyone can agree is really his second chance.
After hours of catching up and talking to our father in his hospital bed, my mother and siblings ventured back to their house leaving my father and me to talk about the events that have taken place over this whole ordeal.
“So—you were in a coma for a week just sleeping away weren’t you?” I turned my full attention to Frank. “I’m glad that you’re back dad. Everyone really missed you.”
“I’ve missed everyone too—but I made sure to visit you while I was away.” Frank looked up at my face with a smile that said ‘I know you know.’
“Oh really now?” I said half sarcastically.
“Hun, it’s okay, you weren’t tripping out or anything. I know what you found in the diary and I was really there in my house with the mirror.” Frank had mustered up a tear in his eye to match the one that had already rolled down my cheek. “I was in a dark place, and it took dying and seeing all that I had lost to appreciate life again. The love I have for you and your brother and sister was enough to save me from myself—and I wish I could have seen that sooner.”
“I wish you could have seen that sooner too.”
“I know hun, and I’m sorry for making all of you guys go through with this. I really am.” Frank said sincerely. “I want to save that time when I really hit the grave for another day, and I want my last judgment to be a flashback filled with good and bad memories, but with no regrets because everything single thing that has happened to us makes us who we are and what we have become. I’m happy now that I’m back here with my kids. You guys really mean the world to me.”
Frank smiled and we hugged for a good minute before we let go. The thing about this whole ordeal is that this situation, where we die and leave loved ones behind, will happen again to Frank, to me, and to all of us. The life we live and the time we have on this earth is so limited as we all speed through childhood, adolescence, and fall into adulthood, old age, and eventually death. The sad part is that some of us never stop to see the things that really matter and that are really important to us until it’s too late. It took Frank dying to realize that he had something more valuable than gold. He had people that he could call ‘his family’ that would love him as much as he loved them, and now he had a second chance to enjoy the time he has his with them and a shot at a new beginning.
Jazzed About Stuff 