Uncle Joe

It's 4:40 AM and I'm wide awake! As I laid in bed wondering why, I looked over at Don lying next to me and thanked God for one more day to love Don, and praise God together.

I looked at him with his silhouette barely visible against the light of his alarm clock (which he doesn't have to use very much anymore).

I listened to his breathing - barely audible - which usually is a roaring cacophony of wheezes, splurts, and sputters at this time in the morning.

I remembered that Uncle Joe died last week, and today would have been Joe and Dee's 53rd anniversary. That means ours is not far behind. Our wedding was the first thing they attended after coming home from their 2 week honeymoon. They were such good friends! I had known Dee since arriving in Whittier at the Brethren Church in 1945. That's a long time ago.

Since there were no boys at the church then, all of us girls had to go out and find husbands, -Joe and Dee met at Westmont - but when we all landed back in Whittier, we raised our kids like cousins. Five families - 20 kids. No one had less than 3. Beach days on Wednesday afternoons in the summer saw our cluster of kids playing in the sand, digging holes to jump in,romping in the waves,and later body surfing and skimboarding.

But Joe didn't swim. He watched. He dug. He ate. He carried things. He put up the windbreak so we could stay until long after dark and enjoy the firepit, and roast marshmallows. We hadn't heard of S'mores,yet. He was always there, and we loved the gentle giant. He was a big man, but gentle as they come. And he didn't say much. But we always listened when he spoke.

Then he got prostate cancer about 3 or 4 years ago. I can't remember exactly. But it was long after Don's diagnosis in 1989. He had surgery, just like Don. His PSA numbers began to climb, just like Don. Then we heard they were doing a bone scan, just like Don. Found a metastisis in his neck bones, just like Don. Had hormone therapy, just like Don. Then he took a turn for the worse a couple of Sundays ago, went to the hospital with a 911 call, and died last Thursday.

And I still have Don.

Only God knows why, but I thank him for each day!

Oh, sure I've been angry with him (Don, not God). We've been through a lot. But I'm beginning to know what the "to have and to hold" part of the wedding ceremony means, and what the "in sickness and in health" means. We've been doing sickness 20 years now. But I have yet to experience the "till death do us part."

And now Dee will be learning what that is all about. She will be in my prayers.

Regurarly.

I think I'll go back to bed and hold my husband of 53 (almost) years and thank God for this new day. Some of the best things in my life have come in small packages. Most gems do, you know.

It's time to try to get a little more sleep now. The sun's about to come up any time soon.