When I woke up I found it to be a very strange morning. Because normally, my mom would have come in and made sure I was up and around by this time, but she hadn’t. She was nowhere to be found. I shouted her name throughout the house many times, called her cell phone multiple times, but I received no answer. I even called my dad to see if he knew where she was, even though he was at work, but his phone went straight to voicemail. I just figured that she had gone into work early, which she did very often. But the weird thing was that she would either leave me a note on the table or send a text message, but there was nothing. That’s when I really started to worry about my mom, and why she hadn’t contacted me yet.
Even though I had no idea where my mom was, my brother and I still had to go to school. I walked to school and Ian rode his bike. Ian was in the sixth grade, and I was a freshman in high school. We only live a couple blocks from the schools, so walking wasn’t a big deal to us. When I arrived to school it was just like any other morning. All my friends were right down the hall just waiting for the morning bell to ring. As soon as I got to my friends the bell rang, so we headed to class. I headed to band, which I dreaded every morning I had it. The only reason I was taking it was because my parents were making me. When I got to class I grabbed my oboe and headed to my seat. About twenty minutes into class I was called out by the counsellors. I was really worried because I had never been called out by them before. I didn’t know if I was in trouble or not, so I walked down to the office and I immediately saw my papa. Now I started to worry even more. Why was papa here to pick me up? Where was my mom, and why wasn’t she picking me up? I just figured my mom was really busy at work and I had an appointment. We got to the car where Ian and Nana were waiting for us. Now I knew there was a problem with my family. My brother and I never got pulled out of school at the same time.
We got home and they told us to take a seat as soon as we walked through the door. Before we even sat down I broke down into tears, I knew they had terrible news for my brother and me.
My papa started to say “Kids, you know your father loved you very much, and was a great man. The reason your mom wasn’t here this morning was because she got a call and had to go to Topeka.”
“Well, why did she have to go to Topeka?” Ian asked.
With tears in my papa’s eyes he said, “Kids, this morning your dad was on his way back from Kansas City for work, and he was involved in a terrible accident. In the accident your dad was killed.”
I screamed, “Noooo! God, please no!”
Ian didn’t start to cry; he just looked at papa with confusion on his face. “No, that’s not true. You’re lying to me, Papa.”
“I wish I was Ian, but Ian I’m not,” Papa said.
And that’s when Ian lost it. He wasn’t just crying, he was on a rampage. Running around screaming, throwing, breaking things. Papa ran over grabbed and hugged him. As soon as Papa wrapped him in his arms Ian collapsed. We had just received the worst news of our life; our father had died. I felt like my world had come crashing down within seconds.
Once the shock wore off, that’s when it all started. Text message after text message, Facebook messages,  and phone calls. Everyone saying that they were sorry for our loss, and that if we ever need anything they were here for us. I had never felt so loved before. About two hours after we received the news I had five of my closest friends at my door there to comfort me. They had skipped school to make sure I was okay. All of them sat there with me and just cried. That’s all I could do at this point was cry; I had just lost the most important man in my life. An hour after my friends being there, the Bathurst family showed up with a carload full of food. After they had brought all the food in, they started to cook all sorts of food. They knew the next couple days would be pretty rough, so they wanted to make sure we would be okay food wise. My older sister showed up and I absolutely lost it. We ran into each others’ arms balling our eyes out. We hugged for what felt like a lifetime, but that’s what I really needed was just to be with all my siblings.
I had never seen my house so full when all my family had arrived. I had all my four of my siblings there, all twelve of my mothers’ brothers and sisters, all of their children, my dad’s brother and sister, and all of our family friends. Even though it was a sad time we didn’t want to make it that way. We were all in the living room talking about all the funny or crazy things my dad had done in his life. I don’t think I had ever laughed so hard in my life.
There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about my dad. I was the biggest daddy’s girl you’d ever meet. With this being my senior year it’s going to be especially hard for me with me graduating and going off to college. Losing my dad was the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through. But I know that everything happens for a reason, and losing my dad was God’s plan. If my dad wouldn’t have passed away almost three years ago I wouldn’t have my amazing step-dad Max, and baby brother Emmitt. Losing my father was terrible, but having Emmitt and Max makes up for it. Even though Max and Emmitt will never fill the void of my father not being here, they come pretty close.
Even though my father isn’t physically here I know he’s here in spirit and will always be in my heart.