It was Valentines Day in
1999, my family and I were on our way to one of the most difficult
places that any family will ever have to go.
We were on our way to the
funeral home for visitation for my beloved husband who had passed away 4
day prior. It was hard enough that it was Valentines day, but it also
was my husband and It's second wedding Anniversary.
I was in one=2 0car with the
kids and my Sisters were in a rental car behind us. All of a sudden my
Sister, Marianne calls me and says "Andrea the strangest thing just
happened, Marcia and I were talking and all of a sudden out of nowhere
the radio turned on, by itself and the song "I will always love you" by
Whitney Houston was on".
I am a bit skeptical but in
the background I can hear it playing. Now Marianne may just be trying to
cheer me up and reassure me of my beloveds continuing presence in our
lives, but my other Sister is very serious and she was there to witness
it as well and said that the radio was turned off and it just came on by
itself and there was the song.
As soon as I could I
listened to the song, really listened to the song, and Joe could not
have picked a better song for us all that day.
He had been in a car
accident about 7 month prior and he was in a coma from the first day to
the last. So even though it took me 6 months to be able to let him go in
my heart and give up the hope of him recovering, it was his way saying
that he needed to move on.
I lost him 3 times, once
when the accident happened, once when I realized he wouldn't get better
6 months later and finally a month after when he passed.
I believe that things
happened like that to give his loved ones a chance to prepare for his
passing. I am such a hard head, I kept thinking after the accident that
he would recover and we would have our family back together again, like
before, even though the doctors, nurses, etc., kept saying he was in a
permanent vegatative state.
I wouldn't stop hoping
for him to be himself again. I would visit him in the hospital (he was
in about 8 different ones in that period of time), and I would talk to
him and play music for him and bring the kids to see him and brush his
hair and cut his nails and wait and pray for him to recover.
He never did and eventually
I realized that he wasn't going to. I could have died myself at that
point...wanted to but couldn't because of my kids. So I had to decide to
live. So I reached out to the one thing that I equated with the greatest
joy in life, Love
