God

Meaningful messages, not coincidences

~ Carole ~ Leave a comment

My friend Cindy cheered me up the other day with an invitation to lunch, a cherished Scripture and a greeting card with a message that was “just right” on a difficult day.

“You may not know exactly where the road is leading,” the card said, “… or what the days may bring, or how you’ll manage them … but there is one thing you can know for sure … you’ll always have the help and support of people who care — people like me.”

Cindy is one of many supportive friends who have come into my life since a change of jobs brought me to North Carolina 15 years ago. Somehow, each has managed to say or do just the right thing at the very time when it was most needed. I refuse to believe that their appearance in my life is sheer coincidence.

It was surely no coincidence to be assigned to a team at my new job with Burgetta, Gene and Teresa.

Burgetta’s strong Christian example and repeated invitations to join her at church led to my Baptism on Easter Sunday 2004. She also introduced me to Cindy, whose patience, determination and grace in raising a son with a debilitating muscle disease have been an inspiration.

That same team included Gene, whose wife, a retired school principal, would develop Alzheimer’s. I am sure it was no coincidence when Gene dropped her off at an adult day care center at the very hour I arrived, reluctantly, to enroll Joe, who by then could not be left alone while I was at work. A familiar smile and a hug assured me I was not alone.

That team also included Teresa, the friend I trusted first with my suspicion that Joe was developing cognitive problems.

And it was surely not coincidence that of all the hairdressers around, I found Eric, who along with my monthly color and cut encourages my walk with the Lord. For better or worse, his suggestion that I share my journey led to this blog.

I can’t imagine what I would do without them.

If  someone you know is hurting, please follow my friends’ example and be there. Trust that your smile, hug or words spoken from the heart will be just right — just as it was with Cindy’s card. In it, she shared one of her favorite Bible verses. May it encourage you as much as it does me.

For know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

Wife-widow-warrior: A new journey

~ Carole ~ Leave a comment

On Jan. 27, 2015, my husband of 39 years made me a widow.

He died, alone, at a VA hospice while my son and I stepped away to grab a bite to eat. We were only gone for a half-hour. Death was inevitable, of course, but nothing prepares you for the shock of stroking your husband’s cheek and finding it is already cold.

So painful. So empty. So final.

A Vietnam War veteran, Joe developed Parkinson’s disease from exposure to Agent Orange. Parkinson’s is a hideous way to die. By 2014, the brilliant and brusque Ph.D. candidate I met at the University of Oregon in 1973 could no longer brush his own teeth, put his clothes on, walk to or use the toilet on his own, or even swallow baby food when the end was near. He was broken and demented.

Our 38-year-old son and I took care of him at home for as long as we could, with the help of aides who came every night to bathe him and tuck him into bed. I persevered when he got up 17 times one night, stumbling to the bathroom, forgetting why he’d gone there, then stumbling back to bed. Over and over and over again. But when Joe fell to the hardwood floor trying to get out of his wheelchair and then fought my efforts to get him up, the time had come to send him to a nursing home. He understood immediately when I told him.

“I won’t go,” he vowed.

“You have to go,” I replied. “We can’t keep you safe at home any more.”

We visited every weekend and, when we could, during the week. Even as Joe’s condition worsened, he never failed to recognize us. His eyes always brightened when he saw us coming. Even as he lay motionless, in a coma, for his final 11 days on Earth, we saw smile lines crinkle at the corners of his eyes when we spoke to him. That small sign of recognition was a gift from God. I knew it then — and am more certain of it with every passing day.

I am starting this blog to chronicle my journey from wife to widow to warrior. (I’ll explain the warrior part later.) Maybe writing will be relief for me as I mourn. Or maybe something will speak to someone else embarking on a similar journey.

Widowhood has made me keen to God’s presence. This new chapter — likely the final one of my life — is about trusting Him and learning to be alert as He shows me the way.  It’s about sharing my blessings.

I don’t know where this new journey will take me, but I am hopeful and not afraid.