One Last Phone Call...With My Dad
It was a relaxed morning. It was early in Lunar New Year break (some call this Chinese New Year in the States), 2009. The kids and I were home in our apartment in the Smith Dorm. For those of you who do not know, my husband, Larry, and I were dorm parents of high school girls for our first six years in Korea. We had a wonderful set of dorm girls, but this was our final year in the dorm and I was going to become a full-time teacher again and Larry was going to become the Assistant Director of the dorm program.
Larry was out that morning and the kids were playing happily together. They were nine years old, and they were always happy just to read, play, and have fun. I debated…call Dad or work on the house. It was a perfect time to call Dad.
I pulled out my phone card (yes, I said phone card, I had no idea how SKYPE worked then, so I still bought overseas phone cards), purchased from Songtan (that’s a reference for all of my South Korean friends), and I dialed Dad’s phone number.
Dad picked up quickly, and we began to chat. I always shared how the kids were doing first, because he LOVED to hear about the grandkids. We chatted about many current things going on with them, including milestones they were reaching, and, in this particular conversation, we shared some memories of the kids.
Snake and Lizard. When the kids were toddlers, my Dad would watch them occasionally when Larry and I both had other commitments. One particular day, my kids had brought over a rubber snake and a rubber lizard. I have no idea where these came from, but they brought them to Grandpa and Grandma’s house.
When I picked them up that day, we had the usual stuff in tow, but we had, apparently, left snake and lizard behind. That evening, my Dad walked into his office, and he jumped. On the ground were a black snake and a green lizard. As soon as he realized what it was, he began to laugh.
He called me up and thought it was hysterical that my kids had left the toys lying on the floor and genuinely scared him. It would later become a game that whenever they came over, they would leave them in a new place for him to ‘discover’ after they left. The game was affectionately called ‘snake and lizard’.
America Online. For those who remember dial-up Internet, America Online was one of the most popular dial-ups. One day when Dad was watching the twins for us, he had to take them to work with him. Now the kids had plenty of books to read and toys to play with, but Grandpa had computers throughout his office. Even though they were only 3 years old, they loved to click away.
My Dad and his associate were at the front of the tax office. My kids were in the back. Suddenly my Dad hears the modem dialing up. The twins were logging on! My Dad panicked and ran back. “What are you two doing?”
My Dad could be kind of scary when he was worried or upset, so the twins thought they were in BIG trouble. My Dad looked over and they were surfing the web! My Dad told them to get off and ran over. With sensitive US taxpayer information in his office, he was a bit worried about what might have happened.
Later on, he would tell the story and start laughing until he cried. He thought it was the funniest thing ever, that our three-year-old twins logged on to the Internet. My Dad loved that these two were ‘double trouble’. They had the biggest blue eyes, an infectious smile, and a giggle that couldn’t help but make you laugh…you could never be mad at these two!
Why did I share these two stories? Because they were my Dad’s favorites. He loved Christian and Mackenzie like crazy, and they brought such joy to his life. Talking about them always brought a smile to his face. During this particular conversation, those memories came up again.
We would go on to talk about other things that he and I always talked about. Finance. He loved to talk about our plans and how we were doing financially. He also talked about his finances and plans for retirement.
Near the end, we even talked about exchange rates. An unusual conversation for us, as he almost never considered buying/using any other type of currency than the US dollar. He was interested to learn more.
Now those who droop when they hear the word finance will think, what an awful conversation. But for me, it was special. My dad and I loved to talk about finance, as it was a common interest. It was very important to my Dad that we be financially independent. The bottom line…for Dad and me it was a great conversation!
All of a sudden, my phone card beeped. Only 1 minute left! My Dad and I had talked for two hours! I hurriedly told him that the call would end soon and that if I could find another card I would call him back. If not, I would call again sometime soon after purchasing another one.
I told him I loved him, and he told me that he loved me. The line went dead.
Less than 24 hours later, I would learn that my Dad sat up in bed, grabbed his chest, and said, “My heart”.
My mom immediately sat up and said, “Leo?” He fell forward, and my tiny mom, grabbed him and pulled him back onto the bed. She considered it a miracle that she was able to pull my Dad back, since he was a rather large man.
My Dad was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, and I received a phone call. Although my Dad had many health issues for years, it still came as such a shock. We had just laughed and joked around the day before.
I remember receiving the news and curling up like a ball on the living room floor. I would actually never get another opportunity to talk with my Dad. He would never regain consciousness.
I look back on that regular day of lunar break, and I realized that I had debated whether to call him that morning or the next day. God, I’m so thankful that you created a ‘perfect time to call Dad’ and that I got to have a really meaningful conversation with him. It was my last, and I will always treasure that moment.
If you haven’t talked to a loved one lately, maybe it isn’t the ‘perfect time’, but if you feel like you should, do it! God blessed me with a last phone call with each of my parents. It was particularly important to me, since I lived overseas and didn’t get to see them often.
Heavenly Father, thank you for blessing me in so many ways, in particular, with a wonderful last phone call with both of my parents. I love them both and will always be grateful for that time with them.
Larry was out that morning and the kids were playing happily together. They were nine years old, and they were always happy just to read, play, and have fun. I debated…call Dad or work on the house. It was a perfect time to call Dad.
I pulled out my phone card (yes, I said phone card, I had no idea how SKYPE worked then, so I still bought overseas phone cards), purchased from Songtan (that’s a reference for all of my South Korean friends), and I dialed Dad’s phone number.
Dad picked up quickly, and we began to chat. I always shared how the kids were doing first, because he LOVED to hear about the grandkids. We chatted about many current things going on with them, including milestones they were reaching, and, in this particular conversation, we shared some memories of the kids.
Snake and Lizard. When the kids were toddlers, my Dad would watch them occasionally when Larry and I both had other commitments. One particular day, my kids had brought over a rubber snake and a rubber lizard. I have no idea where these came from, but they brought them to Grandpa and Grandma’s house.
When I picked them up that day, we had the usual stuff in tow, but we had, apparently, left snake and lizard behind. That evening, my Dad walked into his office, and he jumped. On the ground were a black snake and a green lizard. As soon as he realized what it was, he began to laugh.
He called me up and thought it was hysterical that my kids had left the toys lying on the floor and genuinely scared him. It would later become a game that whenever they came over, they would leave them in a new place for him to ‘discover’ after they left. The game was affectionately called ‘snake and lizard’.
America Online. For those who remember dial-up Internet, America Online was one of the most popular dial-ups. One day when Dad was watching the twins for us, he had to take them to work with him. Now the kids had plenty of books to read and toys to play with, but Grandpa had computers throughout his office. Even though they were only 3 years old, they loved to click away.
My Dad and his associate were at the front of the tax office. My kids were in the back. Suddenly my Dad hears the modem dialing up. The twins were logging on! My Dad panicked and ran back. “What are you two doing?”
My Dad could be kind of scary when he was worried or upset, so the twins thought they were in BIG trouble. My Dad looked over and they were surfing the web! My Dad told them to get off and ran over. With sensitive US taxpayer information in his office, he was a bit worried about what might have happened.
Later on, he would tell the story and start laughing until he cried. He thought it was the funniest thing ever, that our three-year-old twins logged on to the Internet. My Dad loved that these two were ‘double trouble’. They had the biggest blue eyes, an infectious smile, and a giggle that couldn’t help but make you laugh…you could never be mad at these two!
Why did I share these two stories? Because they were my Dad’s favorites. He loved Christian and Mackenzie like crazy, and they brought such joy to his life. Talking about them always brought a smile to his face. During this particular conversation, those memories came up again.
We would go on to talk about other things that he and I always talked about. Finance. He loved to talk about our plans and how we were doing financially. He also talked about his finances and plans for retirement.
Near the end, we even talked about exchange rates. An unusual conversation for us, as he almost never considered buying/using any other type of currency than the US dollar. He was interested to learn more.
Now those who droop when they hear the word finance will think, what an awful conversation. But for me, it was special. My dad and I loved to talk about finance, as it was a common interest. It was very important to my Dad that we be financially independent. The bottom line…for Dad and me it was a great conversation!
All of a sudden, my phone card beeped. Only 1 minute left! My Dad and I had talked for two hours! I hurriedly told him that the call would end soon and that if I could find another card I would call him back. If not, I would call again sometime soon after purchasing another one.
I told him I loved him, and he told me that he loved me. The line went dead.
Less than 24 hours later, I would learn that my Dad sat up in bed, grabbed his chest, and said, “My heart”.
My mom immediately sat up and said, “Leo?” He fell forward, and my tiny mom, grabbed him and pulled him back onto the bed. She considered it a miracle that she was able to pull my Dad back, since he was a rather large man.
My Dad was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, and I received a phone call. Although my Dad had many health issues for years, it still came as such a shock. We had just laughed and joked around the day before.
I remember receiving the news and curling up like a ball on the living room floor. I would actually never get another opportunity to talk with my Dad. He would never regain consciousness.
I look back on that regular day of lunar break, and I realized that I had debated whether to call him that morning or the next day. God, I’m so thankful that you created a ‘perfect time to call Dad’ and that I got to have a really meaningful conversation with him. It was my last, and I will always treasure that moment.
If you haven’t talked to a loved one lately, maybe it isn’t the ‘perfect time’, but if you feel like you should, do it! God blessed me with a last phone call with each of my parents. It was particularly important to me, since I lived overseas and didn’t get to see them often.
Heavenly Father, thank you for blessing me in so many ways, in particular, with a wonderful last phone call with both of my parents. I love them both and will always be grateful for that time with them.
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