The Day My Father Died

I don't know if this story falls under ghost stories or paranormal experiences, but I am sharing a very personal experience for me. As the title states it is a day I will never forget!

My father was in hospice care at home. He laid motionless on his deathbed struggling and gasping for every breath. You could slowly see the life withdrawing from a once proud man. With every gasp for air we knew his time was coming, and it could be at anytime. My entire family was there surrounding him, weeping holding his hand.

Then my mom remembered that my dad had a last wish when he was still able to talk. Sensing his demise he had previously told my mother he wanted to go in a nice suit and tie as he had grown up poor. We scrambled to dress him in the suit he had picked out. Then we realized his tie was missing. I sent my wife home to retrieve one of my ties and my brother to the store to buy one. Who ever got back the fastest we were going to use that tie.

As we waited and time passed my father's breaths became shallower. Then my wife finally returned and so did my brother. As we rushed to tie the tie, I threw mine together quickly and it wasn't as nice, so my mother untied it and tied it into how my father liked it. We placed it over his head and into the collar. My mother cinched the knot nicely and as she withdrew her hand, my father passed right there and then. We all cried instantly knowing he waited so patiently.

Later that evening as my family gathered to remember him, we all sat in the living room just sharing family stories. It had just gotten dark and the door bell rang. We all thought it was another relative stopping by to pay their respects. My mother closest to the door answered it. But there was no one there, thinking nothing of it she closed it. Then it rang again and with same result. My mother burst out in tears again as she knew and we all knew it was just him stopping by and saying goodbye one last time.