Introduction

September 2nd, 2011 at 7:30am central time I called my father just like any ordinary day on my way to work. Every day I called my early in the morning, around lunch, dinner, and an additional time if something came up out of the ordinary. To say the least, we were very close. Our call that morning consisted of the usual sports talk, how everything was going, and how graduate school was coming along. At the end of our talk we always ended the call with "I love you." It turns out, those would be my last words to my father. I had a busy morning that day at work, so I did not get my normal lunch call in because I was taking a weekend trip to Austin to visit my best friend Alex Peckham. Carly Truitt, and I hit the road around 1pm. Carly is my co-worker and roommate. As we were about 2 hours down the road, my life was about to change. My sister, Lindsay, called and she sounded a wreck. All she says is "Andrew there is no easy way to say this... dad is in cardiac arrest and I do not think his is going to make it." Simultaneously, I slam on my breaks and skid into the car in front of me. My arms went numb and I was speechless. After Carly helps me get the lady all the insurance information she needed for the fender bender, we headed to the airport. Once I was on the airplane, many emotions were running through my head. I felt sad, mad, in disbelief, but I did not ask why. The majority of the flight I spent tracing back through all of the memories I had with my father from my youth until my last "I love you." Each entry moving forward will be a memory turned into a life lesson. These are life lessons my dad, Anthony Wayne Banner, taught myself and many others and will hopefully resonate with you.