The worst news so far for me… 12Jul07 | 0
I’ve been meaning to write this post over six months and now I can finally do it… I wrote the below text in an email to a good friend (in the U.S) in mid December of 2006. So the below text is cut and paste - because I don’t feel much like typing all of this again…
“I have tragic news from my family that I need to tell you…
My father Willy died - totally out of the blue - in a probable heart attack during deer hunting on Sunday morning December 10th. It was his 57th birthday three days earlier on December 7th. He was the hunting leader that morning and he was alone on his location in the forest. He died sometime between 08:55 and 09:20 a.m and after he was found, three of his friends (from the Navy) tried to save him over 25 minutes with CPR and then the helicopter with two doctors came and tried as well– but it was too late…Mom got the news from two Police officers at home and they called me on Sunday morning and woke me up with these news… A woman called me and I heard Mom crying loud in the background so I just fell backwards in bed and I don’t even remember what the woman told me. It was the worst day of our lives. Mom and I are in chock (and I don’t remember much from this week), our house is filled with flowers, and the phones are ringing constantly… We went to the morgue on Tuesday and we stayed with Dad there for 90 minutes. We put roses on his pillow, on his chest (shaped as a heart) and his hands. He layed there in Royal Navy colors, with Royal Crowns on the cover, and he looked like a King or Admiral… The autopsy had been done just a couple of hours before we arrived, but he looked like he was sleeping… We kissed him and hugged him… We decided just to be with him and say “hello”, because we couldn’t say “good bye”. We will do that on the funeral.
As you know, my Mom is somewhat handicapped (back injury) and my Dad took care of her. I don’t know what will happen now. I am home now for 3 weeks, until January 8th, to try to fix everything for her and me. I will return to Gothenburg in Dad’s car and with a lot of his things…
My Dad was with me in Gothenburg the between November 30th and December 6th and we had such a good time. Maybe even the best time we’ve ever had together. I’m so glad that we got that time together… Mom and I plan to have his funderal on February 2nd so we can make it as beautiful as possible. And most of his friends from the Navy are home and come then. My Dad served the Navy over 30 years and he was retired (at 55 years of age, December 7th 2004) in the rank of Commander and he had hundreds of friends at work (and hundreds of friends outside work - he helped everybody). So my guess is that this will be a very big funeral - a honorable Navy Funeral… We have lost my Mom’s Dad, my Mom’s Mom and my Dad’s Dad in the last 2 years as well, and my Dad will be buried next my my Mom’s parents in a cemetary about 5 minutes from home here in Nynashamn… That is what he wanted. He has often said to Mom that he didn’t want to spend his last years in a hospital. He wanted to die the forest during hunting; which was his favorite place to be. He was the King of the Forest; an real out-door man… A Robin Hood.
I am sorry that I had to give you these news in this way, but you are one of my best friends so I wanted to tell you… My Dad and Mom loved you for what you did for me when I stayed with you in Dallas in 1997. Do you remember when I e-mailed you, before we met, and I said that you were my role model and you answered “I am not your role model, it’s your father.”… :) And he was the greatest father to have…
This is a horrible and surreal nightmare, my friend… and I never seem to wake up so it must be reality…
Sincerely,
Arvid :~(((
Mom sends her love.”
The funeral in February was the most unreal day of my life, but it was as “successful” as a funeral can be and me and Mom wants to thank the 150 people who attended it and also all the people who helped us to get through December of 2006. We will never forget that.
//Arvid
