One year ago today, my father passed away. Leading up to this, he suffered a massive heart attack and was unconscious and without oxygen for several minutes. He was taken to the ICU of the hospital and placed on a ventilator. Once I got the phone call about this, we immediately made our way back to Indiana. In talking with the doctors, the chance of him coming off of the ventilator was less than slim to none and being able to survive. After spending several hours with him, the family decided to remove the breathing tube. He became somewhat lucid and was able to talk a little bit. He recognized that his kids were there with him. He managed to struggle to breath for the next twelve hours or so. Within a matter of 10 minutes or so, his stats began to drop steadily and rapidly and then he breathed his last.

I’m not going to lie. We didn’t have the best father-son relationship. He didn’t have much a father-child relationship with any of his kids. He had driven one son to have nothing to do with him. But in the end, all of his kids were there gathered around his bedside at the time of his death.

I wish in the end, things would have been different with us. There was so much that I missed out on growing up. There were too many things that happened early in my childhood (which I won’t go into) that shouldn’t have happened, yet they did.

My advice: Men, be a man. If you become a father, BE A FATHER! It will be a much more meaningful relationship for all those involved. Don’t risk what you have. Make the most of the relationship which your heavenly Father has given to you, for you do not know what may happen tomorrow.