Lisa’s Story

Hi im Lisa. I’m 20 years old and I’m from a small village between Carmarthen and Tenby. My dad passed away two years ago from a heart attack. I had been away from home for four days away in the royal welsh show working, which is an hour and a half drive from home. I set off on the weekend and the last thing my dad said to me was to watch out for the farmers that will be flirting with me and I left the house with a kiss on the cheek from him. We’d been getting along really well as being a typical hormonal teenager, my dad had to put up with my attitude for a good few years. But turning seventeen, I’d been spending a lot of quality time with him as he taught me how to drive and was always taking me out in the car. Our relationship therefore reached a very good stage. So after my shift at the royal welsh show, I had gone back to the caravan to start drinking. I was then told that my friend and her parents were at the show and wanted to say hello, so I met with them. Little did I know they had driven up all the way to pick me up because my dad was in hospital after collapsing during his cricket match. I was so mad with him, as soon as I was to see him I was going to forbid him to play cricket again. I got home to find out that he had passed away instantly at the cricket match and that there was nothing that anyone could have done. I screamed and for hours cried whilst pulling at my hair. The only word I could manage to produce was “why?” Why him? He had just turned 60 and had been in retirement for four days and he did so much for people. He was such a funny and loving man. What kind of cruel world takes away a fathers life four days after retirement? I have to this day been kicking myself simply for the fact I didn’t tell him I loved him. I couldn’t remember the last time I told him I loved him despite growing out of the stroppy teenager stage and built on a close relationship with him. Two years on and I still miss him always, he is constantly in my heart and I think