Hello my name is Ronnie Cobb, I lost one of my best friends on May 1st, 2008; he was my father, Walter Louis Cobb. Let me tell you a little about my experience with the death of my father and my own personal experiences of seeing him since he’s been gone. On May 1st I had just gotten home from school when this all happened, I remember getting a call from my mom on my cell phone bawling her eyes out telling me that someone had died, I didn’t know who it was at first until I could understand her and realize that it was my father that was killed. I remember telling her that I had to go and I dropped the phone and started screaming my lungs out because I didn’t know how God could take such an amazing person away from the love of his life, his kids, the friends and family that love and care about him.
Anyways, after I hung up with her I called my best friend Ben and had him come over because I know that I wasn’t about to sit in my house all alone, and by that time I had all of my friends and people I didn’t even know calling me just to make sure I was okay. By that time my mom had called my girlfriend at the time (Allie) to let her know what happened and to have her come to my house to take care of me. An hour passed and by this time, all of my really close friends were at my house just being there for me, and my mom had arrived home and she told me that we had to go to Jordan to go to my dad’s house to see my dad’s girlfriend and my brother.
See, I lived in Waconia with my mom and my brother lived with my dad in Jordan
because they had gotten divorced in 2000 and my brother wanted to live with him and
I wanted to live with my mom because I had lived with my dad when they first gotten divorced and I just wanted to try a new lifestyle. I grew up in Jordan and always got picked on so I wanted to make new friends and try something like I said.
Anyways, back to what I was talking about; so my mom, her husband at the time John, and I got in the car and started driving to Jordan and all I could think about is how bad the rest of my life was going to be without him. When we got to the outskirts of Jordan on county road 9, I saw the train tracks coming up and I could see pieces of his bike still on the ground and all the marks from where the bike had been laid down and slid into its final resting stop. I’m not quite sure on exactly what had happened to him or how it had happened, but I guess he had been driving home from his work and he had seen the train, and I believe he tried to lay the bike down because he knew if he didn’t try to stop somehow he’d die. When he laid it down, he was thrown from his bike and was hit by the train.
So we got past the tracks and got to his house and everyone was there, all my aunts and uncles, all my friends, everyone that cared about him was there and at that time I really didn’t want anything to do with anyone except my family. I remember walking in the driveway and my brother hugging me as tight as he could and not letting go and crying his eyes out and I remember walking into the backyard and there was his girlfriend and I ran up to her and hugged her like I had never hugged her before. A couple of days later I had a couple of huge days to get ready for, my dad’s wake and funeral and my junior prom. I remember telling my dad that I was going to prom and I remember him telling me that he would be there for me.
A couple of days passed and I got ready for prom; my girlfriend came over and we headed up to the school to get ready for grand march and I remember walking with her and looking up in the bleachers and having my first experience of seeing him since he had been gone. He had been there right next to his girlfriend and I could see him just as I remember seeing him, and I remember him whispering to me that he loved me and smiled and I started tearing up, I know nobody else could see him but I know what I saw and I know it was him. I went to the dance that was in Minnetonka and had a great night, everything was just perfect and I had a feeling that my dad was right there right next to me the whole night. A couple days later his wake and funeral happened; I remember walking into the funeral parlor and seeing pictures of him and us boys and just random pictures of him, and seeing a casket with him in it but it wasn’t him, it didn’t even look like him, he looked like some model and I was used to seeing his smile and his red rosy cheeks. People came and went but some people stuck around to be there for us, a day or two later was his funeral and I remember seeing him in that casket one last time before they closed it and I cried and cried and said I loved him with every breath that I take and walked away and sat down. They played a song called “My Wish” by Rascal Flats and it resembled what he wanted my brother and I to do until we saw him next; then we carried his casket to the hearse and shut the doors, he wasn’t buried but he was cremated and we kept his ashes. Some were given to who wanted some and the rest went to my brother and I and close family.
Now, my dad has been gone for almost 3 years this May and it seems like it’s been a lifetime without him but I have seen him in all different forms, mostly as I remember him and yes I have talked to him.
I noticed my gift of being able to talk and see dead people when my grandpa died in 2000 from cancer. I remember sitting upstairs in their house and playing around with his guitars and him walking across the room and sitting next to me and telling me to look at him and to watch over my grandma and the family and he said he loved me and then we was gone, I haven’t seen him since but I think that was my first real experience of seeing the other side; ever since that first time I saw him, every friend or family member I’ve lost since then has come to me after they passed. One of the most recent times that I saw and talked to my father was actually about a week or two ago when I moved to Texas to be with my girlfriend. He was sitting there at the airport and he said to me that he was proud of me for all that I’ve done in my life since he’s been gone, and I asked him if he thought that I was going to be okay with Kacy and he told me that you two will be fine and he told me to follow my heart and never let go of something that I love more than anything. One of the times that I remember the most is when I was graduating, I was walking across the stage and I saw my dad standing there in the crowd, and it wasn’t just him, it was him and my grandpa and they had looked so happy.
Since my dad has been gone, I’ve been through a lot of things; I’ve been through deaths, I’ve been through heartache, I’ve pretty much been to hell and back since he’s been gone but I think everything that happens to me, no matter what it is, it all has a purpose and I believe that my father is preparing me for what’s in stored for me in heaven. On May 1st, 2008 my best friend was taken from me and no matter what, he will always be here right next to my side. Thank you for reading this, it took a lot of tears and thought to write this but I did it because I love to share my experience with others. God Bless, Ronnie Cobb.
