Coronavirus has impacted all of our lives in different ways. Many of us have been forced to make small sacrifices for the greater good, while some of us have made huge sacrifices through no fault of our own.
Spare a thought for Abby Adair Reinhard, who was forced to bid farewell to her father by way of talking to him on the phone for 30 hours leading up to his death.
Abby wrote a touching Facebook post in early April wherein she chronicled her goodbyes to her 76-year-old dad, Don Adair.
Though Don’s children couldn’t hold his hand or hug him, they were able to talk with him in his final days and hear the sound of his voice.
“It feels so good to laugh and cry,” Abby explained in her post. On that last phone call were Abby’s siblings, who joined the call from Texas, North Carolina and Denmark.
Abby told how she was grateful “to be connected on the phone with you and my brother and sisters” and “to bring the images of us from earlier years back to life.”
She also said she spent time apologizing for what she needed to apologize for, while simultaneously forgiving her father for indiscretions of the past.
For Don himself it must have been a comfort to know all his children were there. He couldn’t talk or be audibly heard over the phone, but Abby says just hearing his breath was enough.
“Just hearing him breathe, it was like our connection to him and how we knew he was still alive,” she told CNN.
Don died just before midnight on April 6. Ending her post on Facebook, Abby stated her belief that her father should not just become another statistic.
“When we humanize a tragedy we understand it better,” she said.
Indeed, we can never understate or forget the pain coronavirus has caused us.
Abby, we’re so sorry for your loss. Rest in peace, Don!
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