On July 31, 2004, my husband and I had a wonderful evening with his parents. Even though it really seemed like the stars were not aligning in our favor, we just took it all in stride. My husband had been under an unusual amount of stress, and had been experiencing heart palpitations all week. He really didn't want to go to dinner with his parents. After all, we had just had just seen them on Thursday night for dinner. I knew that if my husband would get out of the house, he would feel better. He finally agreed. His parents even picked us up and we were off to their favorite seafood restaurant. (I say "their" because I always get the chicken!)
We get to the restaurant and there was no crowd...it was so nice and quiet. It turns out because it was a slower night, the managers sent half of the servers home. So as some other families trickled in, we began to realize we might want to "pack our patience". (This is one of my favorite sayings) The slow service was not going to bother us, because we all possessed the gift to gab. We spent over two hours that night at dinner. We all loved talking about politics, religion and many social issues. We always joked the four of us could solve the majority of the worlds problems at a dinner table!
We continued much of our conversations on the way home. As we pulled up to our home, my husband remembered to tell his dad, he had recorded a show titled, The Top 10 Andy Griffith Episodes, so they could watch it sometime. His dad was curious and tried to guess what episodes were chosen. This prompted a trip down memory lane for my husband. He and his parents talked about him growing up...the TV shows they enjoyed watching, movies and books. My husband went as far to talk about where he and his friends would hide magazines (let's just say for a more mature audience) in a wooded area next to their house, when he was a teen. For a moment I didn't know if we were going down memory lane or entering a confessional booth!
Again time got away from us, we had been talking for over an hour in the car. My mother-in-law commented she didn't know about making it to church the next morning. My father-in-law reassured her, they would be going to church in the morning. My husband and I stood outside our home and did our standard silly parade wave as they drove off. As we stood there, I remember thinking how fortunate I was to have such an amazing husband, but also what a blessing to be part of his family.
August 1, 2004...Approximately 12 hours later, we get the phone call. My father-in-law had been rushed by ambulance to the hospital. Within 30 minutes we learned he suffered a brain anuerism. Another 15 minutes we were meeting with the neurologist. He told us that he was a Christian and did believe in miracles, but that is what it would take for my father-in-law to survive. When a neurologist gets down on his knees to pray for a miracle...it makes quite an impression.
My father-in-law had a Living Will and a "DNR". Everyone knew what he would have wanted. Afterall, I had heard him say, "I have already prayed to God, when it is my time to go, I just need to go." And so it was...
Family started pouring in from every direction. Everyone was shocked! My father-in-law had just had a physical 2 weeks prior. He was given a clean bill of health. He had never had any issues with his heart, blood pressure or anything else.
As we pulled in to my in-laws house Sunday night, it had only been a little over 24 hours from our trip down memory lane. I couldn't help to think about the shock I was feeling...I couldn't even begin to imagine, what my mother-in-law was feeling. She essentially got up, went to church with her husband of 49 years and was returning 12 hours later with no husband. I thought to myself, how does ones' mind wrap itself around that?
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