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His sudden passing
Fred Bonaventura passed away in the summer of July 18, 1988. He died of a heart attack. I remember that day, he dropped me off at school on that Sunday. It was July 17, 1988, the day before he died. He drove all the way up to Framingham, Mass with my mother to drop me off at school. When we finally arrived, my parents was talking to one of my staff and I was really excitied to see my friends that day.When my parents was about to leave. I told them bye and I would see them again on Friday. Then I looked at my father. He gave me a warm smile and said " Bye and be good", that was his last word to me.
On the next day, my class had a school trip to water country. I was really looking forward to it. But my teacher and counselor came up to me and said that I had to go home because my mom wanted to tell me something very important. I asked them why, but they didn't look happy, just a plain face and didn't say anything. I suddenly knew something went wrong. So they took me home. When we finally got there, I saw my dad's yellow Lincoln at the front of the house. I was surprise that he was home really early since he always came home late from work. When I entered the house, I saw my sister and twin brother were in the living room. They looked very upset. Without bother asking them what was wrong, I asked where's dad. My twin brother said Dad's dead. I told him to stop joking around because I didn't think it was funny. But my sister looked at me seriously and said that my twin brother was right, Dad's dead and that now he's in heaven. When she said that, I just stood there without saying a word, I became really numb. I just didn't want to hear that news instead, I wanted my sister said " Melissa, Dad is home!". I just wanted to wake up from that bad dream but impossible. I was very devistated over this and I never expected that my Dad left us so early.
All years after he died, I spent a lot of time thinking about Dad. Things weren't quite the same without him. I also spent a great deal of time questioning my faith and wondering why such a good person was taken from a family that needed him so desperately. I often wondered, as many people do when they've lost a loved one, what really happens to a soul when a person dies. Was Dad watching me? Did he hear me when I called dad out loud? All of this, I would never know until I died myself , but I sure didn't want to die in order to find out. I wanted to do something to let him know how special he would always be in my heart. I just hope in one day I will see my father again.