ā¤ļøMy Valentineās Day Gift to Youā¤ļø
A 2-Minute Coffee Break ā Today, Iām giving you a different kind of gift. A 2-minute story - a moment to pause, reflect and remember what truly matters. Take a breath. Grab a coffee. Read this. The Valentineās Day That Changed Everything February 14th, 1990. A bitter, frosty morning. My father cycled the four-mile journey from Sandhurst to Wokingham in Surrey. Seventy kilometres away, in the next county, I stepped out of a florist near Oxford. A single red rose in hand. A gift for my boyfriend. I placed it on the driverās seat of my DHL van. Turned the key. Nothing. Dead. I tried everything. Couriers know how to fix a van, but this time, nothing worked. Frustrated, I reached for the radio to call for help. Before I could speak, there was a knock on my window. I jumped. Then I saw him. My boyfriend. Too fast. Too soon. He worked the Reading route, not here. My mind raced. His car was parked behind me. Someone else was in the driverās seat. āWhat are you doing here?ā He didnāt answer. Just motioned for me to unlock the door. I refused. I didn't want him to see the gifts I'd just bought him. āWhy is your car behind us? Whoās that in it?ā Still no answer. He wasnāt laughing. Wasnāt joking. He just kept knocking. I unlocked the door. He slid into the seat beside me. āWhat is going on?ā I was bemused. Silence. He just sat there. Waiting. Letting me talk. Letting me try to piece it together. Then he mouthed the words. āKerry, itās your dad.ā I frowned. āHeās gone.ā "What?" āThey found him in his office.ā "What?" āHe was in his tracksuit.ā "Don't be stupid." āHe had a heart attack.ā "Shut up." āHis friend found him.ā I hit him. I swore at him. I hit him again. I Screamed. Fell apart. The mechanic in his car checked my van. It started first time. No problem. Nothing wrong. Everything was wrong. I sat in my boyfriendās car, speeding down the M4, staring at the road. White lines blurred past. My mind blurred with them. Jump. Dadās gone. No point now.