Thursday morning I received a phone call from the rehab/nursing facility informing me that my dad had passed away. On November 15th he had been admitted to the hospital and where he was treated at first for congestive heart failure and then for dehydration which led to an imbalance of electrolytes and the discovery that he had severe sleep apnea. After being in the hospital for 11 days the doctors determined that his condition was stable enough for dad to be discharged to a rehabilitation/nursing facility. Upon admission to the facility dad stated that his goal was to get well enough to return to his apartment where he lived on his own. He had been in rehab for nine days when I spoke to him Wednesday evening. He sounded good and told me it had been a good day. We agreed that he would call me Thursday when he had some free time so we could discuss some business affairs I was handling for him. I was not at all prepared for that Thursday morning phone call.

When dad went into the hospital, Taffy, dad’s dog, came to live with us. Taffy is a wonderful white boxer. She loves to go for walks, be brushed and give kisses. She gets along well with other dogs but has one huge flaw as a farm dog. She wants to chase and attack chickens. For over two weeks my husband worked with her. He kept her on a leash when the chickens were around, but she would yank and pull to try to get at them. He fenced in the chickens, and she stalked around the outside of the fence and the chickens were so traumatized that they would not come out of the coop. When he put her on a cable so he could do some work she slipped out of her collar and my husband ended up with injuring his hand trying to keep her from killing a chicken. It was heartbreaking because when dad adopted Taffy my husband and I decided that she would never go back to a shelter, and we would take her in if a time came when dad could no longer care for her. We prayed about what to do and as difficult as it was, we had to accept the fact that Taffy needed a different home. It needed to be the right home for her, and she would stay with us until we found it. She would not go back to a shelter!

Dad and I had discussed earlier in the week that we might have to find a different home for Taffy, so when I told him on Saturday that it just wasn’t working out dad called a friend, Kim, who had already offered to take Taffy in. I spoke with her Saturday evening, and we agreed that My husband and I would bring Taffy to her home around noon on Sunday. Kim and Taffy were already friends. Kim was the meals-on-wheels driver who delivered meals to my dad five days a week. Taffy enjoyed Kim’s brief visits each day, as did my dad.

It wasn’t an easy thing for us, and we prayed it was the right thing on Sunday when we packed up her food, dishes, bed, blankets, vet records and some treats and drove Taffy to Kim’s lovely home in the country. We were greeted by Kim and her husband Carl. Carl immediately took Taffy on her leash and walked her around the yard and gardens. We visited for more than half an hour while Taffy got acquainted with her new home and family. As we left our only concern was that Taffy had not yet met Kim and Carl’s three other dogs. They wanted to make those introductions slowly – one at a time.

On Monday dad said that he had heard from Kim that Taffy was doing well. On Tuesday Kim texted me that all was well and sent a picture of Taffy looking happy on her dog bed. On Wednesday Kim texted that their other dogs were getting comfortable with Taffy. Dad got the same message, and we agreed that Kim and Carl were heaven sent.

It was sometime in the early morning hours on Thursday that dad died, and I know he was at peace that Taffy would be well cared for.

My dad was a storyteller. – he told stories about his life, stories about family, stories about his kids and grandkids, stories about people he knew, stories that would make you laugh, stories that would make you cry, stories to prove a point, it seemed that he had a story for every topic. He loved to talk and if you spent much time with dad, you were sure to hear the same story more than once. In memory of my dad, I am reblogging one of my favorite posts – a story about dad that I have shared twice before on this blog, but one that many of my readers may not have read. I hope you enjoy it.

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