SAN ANTONIO — Mike Zuniga's life was starting to fall into place.
The 38-year-old brother and husband not only recently celebrated a birthday, but was also a soon-to-be father. That was before he was tragically and fatally electrocuted while working on Thursday, the result of striking an electrical wire while trimming trees.
Now his family is left coping with the sudden loss, and making plans without him.
"They were so happy together," said Elizabeth Zuniga Machado, Mike's sister, referring to her brother and his wife. "They were going to be good parents to their baby, and I was happy to be an aunt."
Mike Zuniga and his wife's wish of a miracle baby after a miscarriage was coming true. In less than a month's time, he would have met his son, and was spending that time working on getting the baby's room ready.
On Thursday, those plans and that work came to a halt.
"I can't believe that he's gone," Machado said.
Mike Zuniga's goals of sharing his love for the Dallas Cowboys with a growing family are now a memory, but one the family will hold onto.
"He would have said, 'Look, my son is going to be a Cowboys fan like his dad," Machado said, describing her little brother as a loving and giving person. "I wish that he was here with my sister-in-law so they (could) be together and have the baby. They can live happily ever after."
Now it's a family Machado says she promises will be cared for.
"He would have been a good dad; he's always going to be in my heart," she said. "My sister-in-law and the baby are never going to be by themselves. They are going to have me and the family."