Memories Of Old Les In Time
Continued
Memories ~ Page 9
Friday, October 17, 1997.
It started out like any other day.
Una and I got up and had our morning coffee.
We laughed and talked about what a nice time
we had the night before at Pat and Ed's house.
Una told me that she had called each of our
children the night before, after we had come back
from Ed and Pat's place.
She said she didn't know why, but she just wanted
to talk to them.
We had planned to go to Waynesville to get some
things that we needed before we left but Una was in the middle of writing
a letter to someone and she wanted to finish it.
I told her to go ahead and finish the letter
and that I would just go by myself.
She was sitting at the table drinking her
coffee and writing her letter as I left.
I got about half way to Trust, only about 10 minutes
from our place, when I started thinking about how
I didn't really want to drive all the way to Waynesville by
myself and didn't want to leave Una there for the length
of time it would take to get there and back.
I went to the grocery store in Trust, figuring I could
pretty much get everything we needed there rather than
make that long drive. I picked up a few things and
I headed back home.
I came inside and Una was still writing her letter.
She asked me how I got back so quickly and I told
her I decided not to go. She just smiled at me and
said she was almost finished with her letter.
I was putting the groceries away when she got up from
the table and said to me, "I have a little pain in my chest".
I asked her what kind of pain and she replied, nothing to
worry about, just indigestion pain.
She asked me for a peppermint candy.
I unwrapped it and handed it to her.
She put it in her mouth and suddenly
she collapsed.
It was so fast, I could barely think!
She fell to the floor.
I knelt down to help her.
She wasn't breathing!!
I tried breathing into her mouth.
I tried pumping her chest, I was in a panic now!!
I ran to the phone and dialed the emergency number,
yelling at them to hurry!!!!
I ran back to her, begging God while I tried to
breathe life back into her,
"Please God, don't take her, NO!!
Please I beg you!!!
Dont take her from me!!"
Whispering to her between my own breath
that I was trying to breathe into her,
"Oh my dear sweet Una Marie please don't leave me!!
Begging God over and over,
"Please God, don't take her yet,
Please, please don't take her from me!!"
I didn't even hear them come inside.
I only felt a hand on my shoulder and a voice that said,
"We are here now, we will take over."
It was the paramedics.
I leaned over her hugging her once again
and kissed her on the lips.
As I did, I could have sworn I felt
a tiny breath of air escape from her lips
and gently cross my cheek.
It was as if her finger tips gently touched me.
I will always believe it was her soul kissing me goodbye,
as it made it's journey to Heaven.
I knew in my heart she was gone.
They didn't tell me, but I knew.
I stepped back as they worked on her there on the floor.
My mind could not grasp it.
My life, my dear sweet Una was gone!
This cannot be. She was my life!!
I can't even remember my life without her!!
Here in our dream cabin, my life ended.
We would never live in our cabin,
there would never be a cabin.
Who cared about a CABIN!!
I couldn't go on without her.
This couldn't be happening!!
The paramedics told me nothing.
They did not tell me while we were still
there that she was gone.
They put her in the ambulance. I wanted to go with them.
By this time, Ed and Pat and some of the neighbors
had somehow seen the ambulance,
or somehow heard of what was happening,
and were right there to help.
I was so completely in shock I could barely stand up.
The paramedics wanted to take me in another
ambulance but I wanted to go with Una.
They might have told Ed or someone else that she was
already gone, but they didn't tell me.
I guess that is why they wouldn't let me ride with her.
Only later, did I find out that they had said
they wanted me to be at the hospital when I was told.
I guess in case I dropped dead myself.
What they didn't understand was, I was already gone.
The ambulance drove off our little haven with my Una Marie.
I was in Ed's car as we followed behind them.
It was only about 20 miles to Ashville, which is where
they said they were taking her, but through the mountains it
would take about an hour to get there.
My mind could not grasp
that she was gone.
In my mind, once we got to Ashville,
she would be fine again.
Neither of us had ever been sick.
We were perfectly healthy!
We weren't "this" old yet!!
She was still just my young bride!!
This doesn't just happen to someone!
Not to my Una!!
"Oh my God," I prayed,
"Please, PLEASE, let her be ok when we get there!!"
When we arrived, the ambulance had gone in though
another entrance. I was falling apart.
I just wanted to see her!!
I kept asking every Doctor where she was.
I wanted to know if she was alright.
Nobody would tell me anything.
Finally, a chaplin came in.
He told me she was gone!!
I broke completely down,
there was nothing anyone could do to console me.
I said I wanted to see her.
They took me to the morgue.
There she was, on a stone cold table.
My dear sweet wife, my dear sweet Una Marie,
what I lived for, what I breathed for,
the light of my life!!
Oh God, I was dying inside.
I could barely stand up.
This can't be happening!!!!!
I cupped her sweet, soft face in my calloused hands
and kissed her softly and said goodbye.
"Goodbye my love, goodbye my best friend,
goodbye my wife, I will love you for all eternity!"
I died on the spot!
One of my neighbors had called my daughter, Tina,
and told her what had happened.
I told the chaplin I wanted to call my daughter,
and he dialed the number for me.
I told Tina, "She's gone."
Tina was already crying and she said,
"I'll be right there Dad, I'll be right there."
I didn't know then, that someone had already called her.
I didn't know if it was day or night, I had no idea how
much time had passed. Ed drove me back to our
little "dream" place. He and his wife asked me to
stay with them until Tina and Les Jr.(Bussie) could get there.
They had already left to come up, but it would take
at least 8 hours for them to get there.
I wanted to go back to our place. I didn't want
to stay with anyone. I just wanted to be back
where I was yesterday, back to where the sun still shined,
back to where Una was.
Ed took me back and I told him I wanted to be
by myself. Once he left, I looked around the little trailer
that had been our summer home for the past how many ever years.
There was little Emmy, Una's dog, just sitting
there on the bed, not knowing what was going on.
She started whimpering, looking for Una.
The letter Una was writing
was still lying there on the table
along with the pen she was using.
Her coffee cup, still half full, was also there.
Her purse was sitting there on the table next to her letter.
I fell into a heap on the bench,
reached out and pulled her purse as close
to me as I could get it and cried.
I cried and I cried.
All the kids and grandkids kept calling me about every
15 minutes. I think they must have organized the calls
so that I was never really alone. Each time Tina or Bussie
would call me, they said, "We are almost there Dad."
It didn't matter though, I couldn't hear, I couldn't see.
I guess I must have stayed balled up in a heap until
they arrived.
I didn't even know they were there.
I think I was so far gone by then.
They made all the arrangements to bring their Mother
back to Florida for the funeral.
Somehow they got little Emmy and I into the van.
They packed as much of what they could find
or knew what to pack to go.
Tina drove my van, and Bussie lead the way in his car.
As we pulled out across the bridge, "our bridge",
I looked back at our dream. It now looked like
just a pile of rocks on the ground that was the
foundation, a pile of rocks on the hillside that
went up to the mailbox. It meant nothing to me
without Una.
I sat in the van holding little Emmy
on my lap. I was in Una's seat. She never drove,
so the passenger side was her seat.
I cried all the way out of the driveway.
We weren't very far down the road when I spotted
the tree....the red tree...and I heard Una's voice,
"When that tree turns red, it's time to go home."
 
|
The tree had turned red...
but this time,
Una Marie went to her Heavenly home.
I just went home....without my Una Marie...
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