Hi everyone. I just wanted to thank you again for all your love for my dad and our family. He loved life, and got to experience everything he wanted to do.

I just thought I would share my experience about this morning within the last two hours.

Our son, Jacob, slept in bed with us last night. It’s pitch black in our bedroom. He has to go to the bathroom, so he wakes me up to turn on my bedside lamp. He gets up to go potty, and I turn over and look at the clock; it’s 4:18 (the time my dad passed away).

I touch the clock, and tell him that I love him. My son gets back in bed and I turn off the lamp. Usually, I fall right back asleep, but for some reason, I can’t. I just keep thinking about my dad, and just randomly start reminiscing about everything he and I did. I know he was trying to keep me awake for some reason. He wanted me to go watch the sunrise.

My dad was an early riser. Every morning, he was pretty much up by 4 or 5 am, heading to the office. He always loved watching the sunrise. Even on his vacations and trips, he’d always be up watching the sunrise.

So I put on my shoes and headed out to our backyard and waited. I had about 10 minutes before the sun rose, so I just stood there and took it all in. The gentle breeze, the birds chirping in the trees, the roosters crowing. The sky was a little cloudy out, so the colors were blue, with shades of pink and purple. It was beautiful!

Then the sun rose! From where I was, it was peeking up between two trees on the horizon. I instantly start crying. It was the most amazing sunrise I had seen. He wanted me to see his first sunrise as an angel in heaven.

-Ryan