This is a Story that is been told in my family for years. I have one side of my family that is from Germany, the last name is Dreher. The father’s name (my uncle) was Max Dreher, who married a Nicaraguan woman: Isabel, they had 12 kids, one of them is Frank my godfather. The whole family moved from Germany to Nicaragua in 1930 or something like that, some of their sons and daughters stayed in Costa Rica and some of them stayed in Nicaragua, not all of them were born when they moved from Germany some of them born in Costa Rica. My uncle max and my aunt Isabel stayed in Costa Rica with some of their children, they grew up there, Max the oldest, was a very good looking man, I saw pictures of him and he was really good looking, I don’t remember exactly how old he was when this story that I am going to tell you happened, but he was young, 35 or something like that.

My Uncle max died of a heart attack, my aunt Isabel was alone taking care of all their children, but most of them were old enough to work and take care of themselves,  especially max, the oldest and the main character of this story, he finished college and he was working in a jewelry that the family founded in Costa Rica. One night he was closing the jewelry around 7 pm and when he was walking to his car, he was hit by another car, the accident was terrible, he had a lot of broken bones and a head injury and when he was taken to the hospital, he was alive but in coma.

My aunt Isabel and the rest of his brothers and sisters that lived in Costa Rica at that moment, went to the hospital, the doctor talked to them and said that he was in a very bad condition and that he had just 20% of possibilities to survive. Like 4 days later, he was in the same condition, everyone was waiting for him to die, every night one of them stayed all night with him, because they didn’t want that he die alone, he was in coma, but anyway, maybe he was listening, they talked to him and they told him that it was ok, that he can go in peace, but he didn’t die.

One night, I think that it was 7 days after the accident, they were all really tired, they decide to go all together to the house to sleep a little bit, and the nurse told them that if something happen she was going to call them.  Around 11 pm, the doctor called them telling them that he passed away 15 minutes ago, my aunt was very sad because the day that they decided to leave him alone, he died, when they were able to go to the hospital, they went to his room and stayed with him, my godfather Frank, talk to the nurse that was with him when he died, and told her that it was too bad that he died alone, she look at him and said: No, he wasn’t alone, he was with a man. My uncle asked her: what man? And she said: It was an old man, tall, blue eyes, white beard, he had a weird accent, and he told me that he was coming from far away to watch max, that he was a family member. My uncle Frank in shock told her: We don’t have family here, at least nobody with that description and she told him: well, somebody came and asked for him, and he told me he was part of the family in fact, he stayed with your brother for about 30 minutes, it was weird for me that he came late at night, but I let him go to see him, he was very persistent! My uncle asked her to describe the man that came to visit max, and she described him again. Ours later, they took the body of my uncle to the wake, but my uncle Frank went to the house before to look for some clothes and things to dress my uncle max for the funeral and wake, but before they left he talked to the nurse that was with my uncle when he died and showed her a picture: Is this the man that was with my brother when he die? She said; YES! He is, he was wearing a black hat by the way; my uncle told me that he was in shock, but he didn’t said nothing to the nurse, because the man in the picture was his father Max, that died years ago, he just talked about it after the funeral with their brothers and then to his mom, my aunt, and they realized that my uncle max came from his new house, to finally take my uncle to rest in peace.

Every time I see a picture of my uncle max with his white beard, his blue eyes, I remember that story, most of my uncles and aunts (his brothers and sisters) tell me the story again time to time, I think that it’s scary but sweet at the same time, I think that my uncle Max just died in peace guarded by his father, at the end, it’s not a bad way to die, right?