The Last Anniversary
My wife of 33 years died on our anniversary on Saturday, August 9Th. Eleven years ago, we had celebrated our anniversary days after her first surgery for brain cancer.
My wife was an extraordinary person. Over 350 people turned out for her funeral. Her love for her family and friends, her courage, and her ruthless trust in God are a few of the things that defined her. She was known in this small town for her beautiful smile and her positive attitude.
A couple of weeks before her death, and before her speech went, she told me she didn't want to leave me. We talked about how we had been able to be together every day since her second surgery 3 years ago. I told her we could have spent a lifetime together and, if she would have been healthy, may have not spent that much time together. She also said she wasn't dying, she was living. She always said she could not ask "Why me" without asking "Why not me." The priest at our little Episcopal church told of her many trips to the altar rail during our Wednesday evening healing service. Never once did she ask anything for herself, but always asked for prayers of strength for me and our boys.
I was able to keep her at home, and she died surrounded by our boys, two daughters-in-laws, and her best friend. It was hard. The hardest thing I have ever experienced. But, I would not trade those days for anything.
Her funeral was held at 5:30 in the afternoon on August 12. The burial at the cemetery wrapped up just as the sun was setting.
I will miss her dearly.
posted by Anamchara @ 8:24 PM
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