You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
My Dad died a few years ago after a long illness (well, at least two long illnesses really) - all my siblings took turns to help with care and visitation, but I happened to be the one 'on duty' on his last couple of days so I was there as he slipped away. My Mum had been frail for years and was slowly getting worse, but seemed generally healthy - then she died very suddenly last year, before I'd even had time to rush up to see her in hospital. Then late last year a good work friend around my age died from a brain tumour only a week or two after diagnosis.
The result? They are all gone, for ever - they've disembarked the train of time and the platform is receding into the distance. Sometimes I wish I'd done something different, that they were still here to talk to, or I regret not spending more time with them, but it's all history now.
What I really mean is there's a lot of wrestling with the concept of death that people have to go through, but ultimately there's nothing you can do to stop it, whatever you choose to do. I feel that people sometimes get caught up in trying to make the 'right' choice and do the 'right' actions that will make things all better, but nothing will.
My dad lived years past my wedding - the one we thought we might have to cancel because he wasn't going to survive. If we'd postponed and hung on it would have been absurd. I put off a trip up to see my Mum by a couple of weeks because there was no urgency and then she was suddenly gone. You have to live your own life, is the short answer...
Slightly diferent case. FiL passed away last year, around 8 months after diagnosis with sporadic CJD. There was no warning when he did go, and no real way to be sure of when he might.
We took our family holiday as by that point there was little more to do than hold his hand and speak to him with little to no feedback. We balanced the risk vs. the fact there was unlikely to be any warning, and made plans to get my wife back asap if necessary, and take the hit (it was all self arranged, and South of France so not the other side of the moon) if it was necessary. She was put under pressure by other family members not to go, but after a year of dealing with this and being the major source of support, I felt she needed time away - and she did benefit from it, we saw the woman we loved as a mother and wife more in those 2 weeks than the rest of the year. We don't regret taking that break.
We got lucky in so much as it was a couple of months later he finally went, but you do have to make time for yourself as well as put what you can into the time you have left. If he had passed whilst we were away, there was nothing more we could have done than been at his bedside an hour or two earlier after.
Guilt and regrets are two of the most destructive emotions you can have.
Yes I realise that you'll be missing out on a proper family holiday, but there will be other opportunties. Once your dad is gone, thats it.
Be there for him, be there for your mum, be there for yourself.