Life was wonderful. The kids were fine, the job was fine, my parents were fine and we were so much in love with one another, and our life together. I could not imagine being happier. We had so many completely joyous days and Melvin would say this happiness scares me, something is bound to happen. We were not ones to allow our joy to be usurped wholesale, yet we're human and sometimes the blows of living each day would place us in "time out" to regroup. Fortunately, we both had the good sense to realize God is ever in the picture and as I long as I had him and he had me we'd get up, brush ourselves off, and take on another day.
The year, 2005. Spring is emerging, the sap is rising and all is fair in love and war. I always have my annual physicals in the spring and this year was no different. I was almost cancelled my mammogram, but my doctor and Melvin were so insistent. Got that done, it was routine, in and out.
A few days after the visit, the hospital calls to ask if I can come back for another mammogram, nothing serious, they just wanted to be sure there was nothing amiss. I go in, get it done, no worries.
Friday, home from work, ready for me and Poo's weekend party, this was a rare weekend we didn't have a house filled with children, and Melvin seemed filled with foreboding. "What's wrong?" I asked. "Poo, that doctor's been calling here all day. She said she tried to call you at work and couldn't get you. She would not tell me what she wanted. How come she can't tell me, I'm your husband?" I tried to console him, but by then he was in a tizzy. I brushed it off, "Maybe it's a copay or something minor. I turned the music on danced and was silly for him, he calmed down and started our Friday meal of fish and shrimp. Just when we were about to discuss our trip for Spring Break, the telephone rang. He stopped in his tracks as if he knew it was the doctor. By now, I too, thought it strange a doctor would be calling after 8:00 pm. I answered the phone, "Hello." Melvin was on the other line, in another room. The doctor proceeded to inform me that the spots they found in my breast were cancer and spreading fast. I would have to schedule surgery within two weeks.
I was calm, I guess what I was being told did not register, but when I turned around, Melvin was in the room with me holding the phone, tears streaming down his face. My husband was devastated. I knew, on that day, I had to be strong for him.
Months before this announcement, a colleague of mine shared her thoughts on how you know your man truly loves you. She said if he sticks by you when you're really down, I mean sick, she said, not the flu, but a real illness, that's when you know you got something that's real and yours for life.
Let me tell you, mine was not a diamond in the rough, but a precious stone, a gem.
tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment