Letting go..

On Thursday, June 18th sometime after 6:00, Dan and I took the girls into to say goodbye to my father. We all prayed together, gave him kisses and said goodbye. After that the girls were taken home. After everyone had a chance to say goodbye, I instructed the nurse that we were ready to go ahead and remove him from life support. She was very delicate and respectful. Someone requested the monitors to be turned off. So, the vent and everything was removed, and it was just moments before my father took his last breath. Since we turned the monitors off, I asked the nurse to come back in and check for us, as it was tearing me apart to watch as my sisters strained for a pulse, heartbeat, etc. The nurse called his death and it was over. After we were all able to compose ourselves, a Divine Mercy Chaplet was said for his soul.

Some background (from Catholicity.com):

Our Lord said to Saint Faustina:
Encourage souls to say the Chaplet which I have given you ... Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death ... When they say this chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between my Father and the dying person, not as the Just Judge but as the Merciful Savior ... Priests will recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation. Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from my infinite mercy. I desire to grant unimaginable graces to those souls who trust in My mercy ... Through the Chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with My will.

We believe that in our faith and prayers our father was given this mercy and given God's grace.

We stayed as a family for about an hour, making sure the funeral home was called, gathering our belongings (we had been camped out there for 3 days), thanking nurses......It was strange to walk away knowing that this time we would not return to see my dad. Dan and I left and went straight to Baratta's to have a drink and a shot in his honor, and to just be. We were of course surrounded by our loving restaurant family and allowed a moment to gather our thoughts before transitioning to funeral planning. It was much needed.