In the eye of my storm

[LITB]

Here is the story that I wanted to share.

The day was January 8, 2010. I was already living in SF, but my family was still in Vegas. I was driving to Vegas with J(the friend I was living with at the time) so I could spend the weekend with my family(as I did every 2 weeks, but usually flew).

My dad was in the hospital at the time, but it was my understanding that he was improving. I had booked a flight to NM to be with him the following weekend.

As we started driving to Vegas, I got a phone call from my sister when we were in San Jose. She said, that the doctors had told my mom that my dad had only 3 months to live. I told my sister that I would fly to NM as soon as I got to Vegas. When we were getting into Bakersfield, I received a second call from my sister to let me know that the doctors said that my dad wasn’t going to make it through the weekend. I let my sister know that I would be catching a flight as soon as I get to Vegas.

So I found myself in one of the most difficult situations that I could be in. I sent my W an email asking her to check flights for me as I had to be in NM immediately. I didn’t tell her why. At the same time I was checking flights on my phone. At some point I text Matt(my best friend) to let him know what was going on with my dad. We were all looking for flights. The last one to NM was to depart at 8:30. I wasn’t going to arrive in Vegas until 8 at the earliest. I had already asked my W to have everything packed for a week as I was going to drive my family to NM as soon as I arrived at my house.

Matt sent me a text that he was going to check into a private flight for us. I told him that I couldn’t accept it, because I would never be able to repay him. His reply was, “Dude, this is your dad. It isn’t like you are going to Disneyland.” We continued corresponding as we worked out the logistics of the trip. At 10:30 that night, my family, including my mother-in-law were on a private jet headed to Albuquerque. Thanks to Matt, I was able to spend at least an additional 10 hours with my dad. That wasn’t the end of it. Matt flew in the next day to be with me during this time. He didn’t leave the hospital until my dad passed away in the early morning of January 10, 2010. He flew straight back to Phoenix.

It still didn’t stop there, but that is the main point I wanted to share.

This is my unedited version. I will be sharing this story at his memorial on Wednesday when I will have the opportunity to honor my friend, who was like a brother to me.