I pulled into my Dad's driveway one Saturday with my two dogs in tow, excited to be spending the weekend with him.  We were going to be cooking out, which meant steak and kilbasa with baked potato and salad. And Dad always picked the biggest potatos.  I couldn't wait.  I loved my Dad so much, he wasn't just my Dad, he was the one I confided in, turned to, depended on.  I am a true Daddy's girl.  My Dad was always my safe place to rest.  As I pull into the driveway, I notice his car is turned around, parked under the tree for shade so the next time he gets in it will be cooler.

I bound up the porch to the door, it's locked so I knocked, no answer, I call him on my cell phone.  It works, which is amazing, considering he lives in the middle of nowhere, so I speak into the machine, hey Dad, it's me, I'm outside, where are you.  I then think, maybe he got called out during the night and is still asleep, so I go around the house to the bay window outside his master bedroom and peak in, no Dad, I can see his clothes from the preivious day lying across the bed and his shoes neatly placed beside the foot of the bed.  HMM, I wonder.  Where Is my Dad.  At this point, I walk back up to the porch, actually sit down in a chair, look around at his car and wonder who came and took my Dad.  I say took my Dad, because both vehicles are there in the driveway.  So where ever he is, he didn't take himself.

I don't know what made me get up and look through the glass in the door, but I did.  From that viewpoint you can see into the dinning room and into the living room.  I look through the glass scanning the rooms, when I realize to my horror that my Dad is lying on the floor in the dinning room.  I start banging on the door, but he doesn't hear me.  I go running around the house, back to his bedroom, to see if a window is open, there isn't one open. I begin randomly popping screens off windows.  Then I go to the back sliding glass door, it is locked.  I think about breaking it, but then I think, Dad will kill me if I break the sliding glass door.  I then go back to the front porch pick up a brick and try and break the glass on the front door, it doesn't give.  I kind of run half way around the house back and forth, frantic at what to do, no decision seems right, somewhere I realize I need to act, thats when I jump in the car and fly down the white rock road to the neighbors house.  I'm not sure what they thought when a car came speeding up to their house with someone laying on the horn never letting up, but that's waht I did, till I got there, then I ran to their door  shouting, my Dad is on the floor.  I don't know how the men got out of the house so quickly, but they did.

I then followed them in my car back to my Dad's house.  By the time I got to the porch, they were exiting the house covering their mouths and shaking their heads.  I ran into the house.  As my hand touched my Dad's back, the neighbor pulled me away.  It was too late, I now know that my Dad is not only is dead, but he died some time ago, their was a stiffness to him, and there was liquid around him on the floor.  The neighbor wants me to go outside, but no, all I can think of is calling my sister.

No care was given to that call, I felt bad about that later, but all I knew was my Dad was dead, and I needed her with me, not later, now.  I remember I was shaking and it took me a couple of times to even be able to dial her number.  I also remember just blurting out, Dad's dead.  I remember some confusion, then I don't know, not sure if the neighbor took the phone, but I think she did, I had lost my ability to rationalize to speak to comprehend.  All I could do was shake.

The police come, actually one police officer comes, he makes everyone sit outside waiting on the investigator, It's August in TX, it's hot.   The volunteer Fire Dept is there, thank God.  The woman, Evelyn, was comforting.  It was horrible, until the investigation was completed I was treated as a suspect in the demise of my own Father because he died alone and I found him alone.  I wasn't allowed to go in and cool off and I wasn't allowed to leave, I had a sweater set on, I remmber having to get a tshirt out of my car, and change around the corner of the house so I could have some privacy.   The most important person in my life is gone and I was being treated like a criminal.  No words can describe the extent of my hurt.  The horror that I felt. 

The investigator finally arrives, I seem to remember it took close to 3 hours for him to get there.  I remember he was nice to me.  But then one of my dogs, Romeo growled at him.  I kid you not, that man put his hand on his weapon.  I remember shouting, my Dad just died, don't kill my dog too!  Then my dogs were put in my car in the hot August heat while we waited for the investigation to be finished.  All I kept thinking, is my Dad is in there on the floor, someone get my Dad off the floor.  I feel myself loosing grip with reality, Someone has to get my Dad off the floor, and someone has to do it now!  My Dad is on the floor!