Column 3 Draft

It was the end. The end of a fabulous foursome, the end of a loving father and wonderful husband’s life.

That Saturday in February began as any normal day for the Irwin family in 1999. It was warm, as the sun glistened in Arizona’s elite suburb of Scottsdale. A little convincing the night before had earned the two children the opportunity to spend the night at a friend’s house, an event of great deal when you are 12 and 15 years old.

Dan, a typical sports fanatic, teenage boy, rushed home from his night of fun, excited for a basketball date with his dad. Walking in the door and heading up to his room to get changed, he passed his father who was peacefully napping on the couch. When Dan returned to inform his dad that he was ready to go, he looked closer and realized his father was only a motionless, lifeless corpse. Home alone, Dan raced outside, dropped to his knees and began to pray.

When he was able to break from his overflow of emotion, he got on the phone and contacted his mother, Chirs, who was away in Colorado for the weekend. Without saying a word about the life changing event that had just occurred, Chris knew right away that something just wasn’t right. She soon took the next flight back to Arizona, but until she arrived home, Dan would have to grow up too fast.

His younger sister, McKenna, a strong-willed, big-hearted outgoing individual, had not yet come home. Her dad was to have picked her up and taken her to dance class that day. “I waited and waited and he never came. Finally, Rachel, a family friend, showed up and I got in with her,” McKenna said. What heartache must have faced Rachel as she knew she had a big task ahead of her. “We talked as if it was any ordinary day, conversing back and forth. Then, as we turned the corner to my street, she started balling and said ‘I don’t think you’ll be going to dance today.’”

Cop cars, police men and neighbors flooded the sidewalk and driveway. “My first instinct was that my mom’s plane had crashed, but then I remembered she wasn’t coming home today day so she wouldn’t have been on a plane,” McKenna said.

Still clueless as to what was going on, McKenna found her Grandmother in the backyard and ran to her. She held her close and told McKenna that her father had a heart attack. McKenna knew he was dead, but she refused to believe it.

Moments later, Chris pulled into the driveway and hurried out of the car. Dan, McKenna and Chirs would now face this unrealistic tragedy together. They sobbed, grasping each other tightly for comfort. The three decided to go into the living room together, to see their beloved father and husband one last time. “It was the weirdest feeling, something I can’t explain. I saw him there and knew that wasn’t my dad anymore, his soul was gone,” McKenna said.

Jeff Irwin, the biological father of my best friend, McKenna, had lost his life that day. He was very well-known, liked by many and extremely important to those with whom he was close. After years of drinking and drug abuse, they got the best of him. An overdose of cocaine had taken over his body and caused his heart to fail.