This morning, I left my parents' house at around 10:30. Before I left, I hugged my mom and then my dad, saying to him, "Bye, Dad. I hope your leg pain gets better."

"Thanks, hon," he replied.

I've been at the hospital most of the day. A little over 11 and a half hours after we spoke, my dad died of a pulmonary embolism. I didn't want to write this. I don't want to talk about it at all, but it's happened, and you're all my friends, and it needed to be said. And since it needed to be said, I wanted to write it down exactly as it happened. Or at least the part of it that seems significant.

Feel free to comment, as I think some of you might want to, but please understand if it takes me a while to respond.