“‘Go home and enjoy the time you have left,’ our doctor told us. Brad could not reckon the idea of leaving me as a single mom. But, I could not reckon the idea of not having a piece of him here with me on earth. We decided to take a giant leap of faith.”
‘I felt pregnant, but the odds were slim. Brad had been declared sterile. No one had ever survived a recurrence from this disease.’: Woman gets pregnant with ‘miracle baby’ despite husband’s terminal cancer diagnosis
‘Cancer is a gift.’ My husband wrote. I scowled. Widowed at 35 with 3 adopted boys, I was angry as hell.’ Woman’s journey to new love, life thanks to 200-year-old haunted house
“BAM! He dies of freaking brain cancer. Yeah, I was pissed. What in the heck was I going to do with the rest of my life? I bought a 200-year-old house on a whim. People in town told me stories of her ghosts. You’re the lady who bought that crazy old house, right?’ Yep, that’s me.”
‘Collapsed? Was this a joke? Who was this man? Then I asked the worst question. ‘Is he breathing?’: Wife’s recalls ‘nagging feeling’ her ‘young, healthy’ husband had before his untimely death
“How does a healthy 31-year-old man who had taken his 2-year-old on a bike ride the night before suddenly collapse 18 hours later? I was asked questions like, ‘How often did David faint?’ or ‘Did his lips ever turn blue?’ Zero. Never. None of that ever happened. But he still had a bad feeling.”
‘I had a great 4th of July. Except for the part where I almost died. I ate macaroni salad. I didn’t realize it was different, until I was SURE I tasted fish. Not just fish, but CRAB. I was convinced of it.’
“My ears started to burn. My lips tingled. My thoughts consumed me. My brain went into overdrive. The voice inside my head started panicking and screaming into my itchy ear, ‘That’s it, you’re gonna die.’ I had to act quickly before my throat closed and my hands seized. Then, I saw it. It took my breath away.”
‘My 30-year-old husband who was never sick, was constantly downing Pepto Bismol. He started eating less than me. He was missing work, which he never did. I knew something wasn’t right.’
“My phone rang. It was him. He just said, ‘They found something, but I don’t want to tell you today. I don’t want to ruin your Christmas Eve.’ My daughter wrapped her arms around my neck.”
‘Are you a boy or a girl?’ My daughter responded with the craziest look on her face. ‘I’m a girl!’ I knew she was gay. I always knew she was ‘different.’
“By the time she was 4, her tomboy phase became something different. I remember getting her ready for school. ‘Mom, I want to dress like a girl today!,’ she said. I went out to the living room and told my husband to ‘not make a big deal about what she was wearing.’ He was her protector.”
‘I started using wrinkle cream. I turned up Barbara Streisand and sang along. I asked the pedicure lady to scrub a little harder on the heel. Then it hit me. I have become my MOTHER.’
“As a teenager, I didn’t want to be like my mom. I wanted to be rebellious and wild. I wanted to be a free 80’s kid and wear a skirt shorter than 3 inches above the knee. I wanted to watch MTV all day. And then, on a random Friday night, everything changed.”
‘I had just watched my husband die, in the hospital, right in front of me. I NEEDED to change. Finally, I got a text. ‘Are you free to come in right now?’
“It was the one month anniversary of Albert’s death. ‘I trust you,’ I said.”
‘I was fat shamed at my husband’s funeral. Just when they were about to put him in the ground, I heard it. It came from across the other side of the casket.’
“I thought I was the only one who heard. Seconds later, my sister turned to me.”
‘I want to go see her.’ He said through his tears. ‘I’m so blessed to have found her. I wouldn’t trade one moment I had with her.’ We all needed tissues. He misses her so much it hurts.’
“We asked him if he knew what today was. ‘Is it someone’s birthday?,’ he asked. We told him it was his anniversary – what would have been his and mom’s 69th. He started crying. ‘Would you like to go to the cemetery to take her some flowers?’ He sat, in silence.”
