The Story Briefly

     My mother died of heart failure on Dec.2, 2008, my father died of colon cancer on Dec. 4 , 2008. The house we're selling was their house after they purchased it from my dad's mother. My father grew up in that  house, but when he came out of the army and married my mom they moved  into an apartment in the city. So I never lived there except for the past year.

     To the one side of their house was another house and then a parking lot for the next building which was called Sokol Hall a community center which people could rent for parties and doings.Anyway, the house in between my parents house and the parking lot was torn down after the people  that owned it died. The towns park district bought the community center and wanted that house  torn down to extend the parking lot. Now that my parents are gone the park district saw an opportunity to buy our house and extend the park even further.

     My parents ashes are buried at a nearby towns cemetery and my sister and her family live kind of far away. So we don't get a chance to get together and visit my folks graves. My sister and I both feel like we never got a chance to properly grieve because there were so many things to do with regard to the estate of my father and our own families, jobs, and responsibilities. Now that the house will be sold and the proceeds used to pay the remainder of my parents bills and then split between my sister and I, we feel like we need to say good bye once again at the cemetery and then go out to dinner so we could spend some time with each other.

     My mother was going downhill health wise having to be rushed to the ER almost on a weekly basis. We knew for a long time that her days were numbered. However my father did not tell us about his cancer  till a couple weeks before he died. He simply did not want to go on without my mom and just wanted to take care of her and her illnesses. I could tell he was sick but I had no idea it was as bad and as advanced as it was. When I called them every other day they would just say they were a little tired but OK. When I finally got a chance to go out there to see them.I got to see how bad he really was. I couldn't talk to him then because he had other relatives their giving out belongings and household items. By that time he knew his days were numbered and he needed to give away what he could and tell everyone what and how he wanted  things done. None of us were ready for my mom to go first.

      It was by pure chance that my sister, mother and I got to spend a final evening with each other two night before she died. I was going to stay there for a while and my sister unplanned decided to spend the night there with my mom and I. We ordered in and talked, laughed, and cried. That was the day we asked that my dad be taken to a hospice unit in the hospital. My sister and I tried but we could not take care of my dad ourselves. By  this  time he couldn't even turn in bed and I was administering the morphine to him myself.

     Anyway even though I still miss  them it will be easier to move on once we close on this house.