Tag: grief Journey

The War Doesn’t End When Deployment Ends…

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May 30th, 2023

Yesterday was Memorial Day. 🇺🇸

My husband was a war veteran of the United States Air Force. He served two deployments during Desert Storm, also known as the Gulf War.

But the deployment doesn’t end…when the deployment ends.

We use to talk about how many people don’t understand the difference between Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day. That Memorial Day is for the fallen, the ones who sacrificed their lives for our freedom, the ones who died while they were serving. Veteran’s Day is for the Veterans who served and whom we honor, as they live, for their service.

But yesterday, all day, I contemplated something else.

There are men and women who did not die prior to their honorable discharge date. But some spent the rest of their lives living out the consequences of that service.

Statistics say that twenty-two veterans die each day in the U.S. as a result of suicide. Thankfully, that was never my husband. But didn’t those vets pay the ultimate price for service, too? The loss of peace, the night terrors, the pain, the fear until they didn’t know how to manage it anymore?

Scott lived with PTSD for the rest of his life after the war. As long as I’ve known him, he has had terrible nightmares and I’ve had to gently wake him, many, many times, to lift him from the darkness of them.

He lived his entire life after that war with the consequences of his service.

So, while Memorial Day isn’t for veterans like Scott, I will remember him and honor his service and his life every year on that day, too. Because he was still fighting a war inside his own head for as long as he lived.

When “We” Became “Me”

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Three weeks ago today, I drove you to the hospital. We waited for three hours in the waiting room and complained about how ridiculous it was that they told us to be there at 8:30 when they weren’t taking you back until 11:30. Oh, how I would love to have those three hours back again.

How has it been three weeks? It seems like you’ve been gone forever but, at literally the same time, it feels like I was holding your hand yesterday, alive and well, the only worry on your mind: getting this surgery out of the way so that you could go home with me and then get back to work soon. Back to feeling like yourself. Back to “normal.”

It should have been soon…if we’d have had the surgery on the original date, April 19th, things would have been so different. You’d be getting to take the neck brace off tomorrow and you would have been so excited to be free of it. The original surgery date was six weeks ago.

Instead, you were free of it much earlier but in a way none of us ever even imagined, never wanted…couldn’t stop. And now I look over at your side of the bed every night and say I love you and I miss you so much, to a blank space.

You’ve always filled in my blank spaces before. I didn’t want to ever get married again; you filled in a blank space I was trying to delete. I felt alone and worthless, ruined and a failure; you reminded me who I am and what I was worth, to you, to the kids, to God, and to the world. I didn’t know what my purpose was after kids graduating and retiring from nursing; you made me excited for all of the things that would now live in that blank space. There were no blank spaces when you were here. No matter what the challenge, the worry, the task at hand, you always said “We’ve got this, baby. Together, we’ve got this.” And then I always believed you. Simply because we were together. So…what happens now that “we” became a “me”?

All in all, the highs were worth the pain. You were worth it. We were worth it. I don’t know how “I’ve got this” without you but I do know that we always believed and knew that God was part of that we. It was never just us because, although it is obvious now how a strand of three cords can be frayed, it cannot be broken. And we cannot be broken because I’ll see you one day in Paradise.

I just didn’t think that would be the very next time I’d see you, three weeks ago today.

Losing You, Piece by Piece

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May 29th, 2023

I lost Scott’s wedding ring today.

Spoiler Alert: I found it later; don’t panic (like I did). And Godwink ahead if you choose to keep reading.

I have been wearing it on my thumb since the last day that I saw him. He gave it to me for safekeeping prior to surgery. I didn’t know I’d be keeping it safe for him forever.

It’s been a “worry stone” of sorts for me since I began wearing it. I use my other hand to twist it round and round nearly constantly. It’s a reminder of him. It’s something I have left of him, of us. He was so proud of it because I chose it for him and it has deer antler embedded into it. I chose it because it spoke to me, it said a little something about who he was. And he loved it because I chose it thoughtfully, specifically for him and likened to him and his tastes.

It’s really heavy. I wasn’t expecting that when I ordered it. Many times I have offered to buy him one of those silicone bands to wear while at work and he would always say, “No, I want to wear this one; you chose it with your heart and I want it with me.” He never took it off. But that day he had to.

When I realized it was missing from my thumb, I did panic. Owen said “Try not to panic, mama. It’s in this house; we will find it.” I knew I had been wearing it just beforehand, within the hour at least. I had cleaned out the fridge, putting some things in a large, black trash bag for garbage pickup tomorrow. I had loaded the dishwasher. I’d sat on the couch. I had fed the fish. And, as I cried, I searched each place, over and over again. I emptied the entire trash bag, piece by piece, onto my kitchen floor and searched and shook the entire thing, turning the bag inside out. My sweet Owen came and helped me turn over the couch and search between cushions. As I got discouraged, I said a few times “It’s okay. It’s lost, son. There’s nothing more we can do. Hopefully it will turn up soon.” But he kept searching and trying to help me retrace my steps, keeping me on task. I searched the trash bag two more times because, as heavy as the ring is, it should have made a loud noise if it hit the floor and rolled so falling in the trash bag made the most sense. All to no avail.

We finally stopped looking and I sat on the couch, staring into space and realizing that I had now lost another piece of him, even though it’s not actually him. A memento? A reminder? None of these seem right because it was chosen just for him. It belonged on him.

I agonized over whether to put it on his finger prior to the funeral. He never wanted to be without it. He wanted to wear it always. He would have wanted it on his finger. But ultimately I decided that my husband, above all else, wanted me to feel safe and happy. He was no longer in that body but I could keep this one little piece here with me and he would want me to if it brought me any measure of peace in his absence. And then I lost it. I lost his ring that he loved.

I’ve lost quite a bit of weight since May 9th. This morning I had been washing my hands and it nearly fell off. I thought, even my thumbs are getting skinnier…crazy. I nearly took it off then but I have become accustomed to having it on and I didn’t want to be separated from it. It’s strange how important tangible things are in the absence of love lost.

I rose from the couch, probably an hour later to go to the restroom. And, lo and behold, the ring was IN MY PANTS (not a pocket, INSIDE). Apparently, when I had gone to the restroom earlier and had used my thumbs to pull my leggings back up, the ring had gotten trapped by the waistband and just pulled right off, resting just under the waistband. When I completed the same action this time but to pull them down, my thumb slid right into the ring again. (Don’t ask me how I didn’t feel it there. I suppose my skin had warmed it and it was being held snugly by the elastic waistband.)

Such a long time of searching, just to find that it was with me all along but I couldn’t feel it because I was in a panic, fretful over my loss and despair.

Isn’t God like that, though? I can’t feel Him near me these days. I try to pray. I try to worship. I try to sing. I try to search for Him so that He will come near. I try the most likely places (like church) that He should be (although I know full-well that He is everywhere). I’m so distracted by my searching, in a manner of speaking, that I forget that, even though I can’t feel Him, He is still here, so close to me that His warmth feels like my own. So, maybe I am feeling Him but I’m just looking for a more tangible way to realize it. I feel like I need to SEE the evidence to know it for sure. But the real evidence is already there. The real evidence is that He has been there every other time, without fail.

Pain is for Sharing

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May 28th, 2023

Do not feel worried about me. I appreciate it and I’m thankful to have so, so many people who care for and love me. I am alright. I’m not having the time of my life right now but I will be okay at some point.

The things is, secrets die in the light but are dangerous in the dark. I have hidden grief and pain, tried to keep it to myself, to keep from making others uncomfortable before and it 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 turn into a monster. And that monster will eat you from the inside out. Ravenously.

Perhaps I could just keep these writings for myself, but I won’t. Why? Because maybe someone else who is grieving a huge loss is reading and now knowing they’re not the only one who feels this deeply pierced by it. Or maybe someone who is trying to support someone else who has experienced such loss is reading and will suddenly understand what that person is really feeling, that they’re trying hard to keep inside, in the dark. Maybe you’re looking at someone, never having gone through such a deep loss before yourself, and thinking “it seems like they should be over this by now; gotta keep on living…chin up, buttercup” but now you’ll realize how paralyzing it can be, how utterly shattering.

I’m beginning counseling soon, waiting for my appointment date to arrive. I am seeking help with the anger, the pain, the sorrow, the grief. I’m reaching out this time because I didn’t before and it nearly killed me. I’m talking to a select few people because I really don’t want to keep telling the story over and over and over. And I don’t want to talk about it often because it hurts. I want to talk about him. About who he was and how he changed lives and how he loved me and how he was silly and goofy and funny sometimes but serious about so many other things. I want to do whatever it takes to withdraw from this place of despair and rise into a place of comfort, happy memories, and purpose.

But for now, I will write. ✍🏻

One is the Loneliest Number

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May 28th, 2023

GRIEF TRIGGER WARNING (If you’re not in the mood for sadness this holiday weekend, continue to scroll, please.)

Loneliness is an odd sensation.

It can be ubiquitous and unwelcome while in a room full of people who are charming and kind. One can strongly desire to be rid of the feeling, but also have an aversion to speaking to anyone. It is not that you wish to hold onto it, but that you are unwilling, perhaps unable, to engage in the task that would alleviate it.

I don’t even actually know if this is truly loneliness or just an extension of the long arm of grief, a missing piece, a dark shadow. I feel as though I am alone, however, it may just be that the other half of me is absent, the part that made me complete.

Sometimes I think I feel “okay,” which is followed by intense guilt. It hasn’t been a month yet. How dare I almost feel “okay?” But then I realize it’s not actually okay, it’s that the numbness has returned, a quick-footed, protective guard in impenetrable armor who speeds in to the rescue when the dark gets…too dark. And then it feels a bit lighter again. That’s the “okay”.

Scott has been my best friend and partner for so long that my gait feels unsteady without him here. I’ve lived without him here, in this house, for periods of time. But this time I mean without him existing here with me in the same “realm”, on the same “plane of existence”…on Earth. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven… I wish you could still be here on earth as you are in Heaven. But after experiencing what it is like there, I’d never bring you back here, even if I could. It would be cruel to make you suffer the pain in this world after you’ve been there. But, oh, how it hurts for me, for all of us.

I know you’d hate it that we are sad. I know you’d be worried about me, your mom, the boys. So, I’m still glad there is no sickness, no sorrow, no pain where you are. That eases my mind when I think of it.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)

I keep trying to redirect my thoughts in this manner but the days are long and most times the nights are longer. And my heart can still feel that you are…missing. People keep saying you are with me, you live on in my heart, your spirit surrounds me, you’re watching over me. As much as I appreciate the attempts at kindness and compassion, such people have likely not experienced the gravity of such a loss as this. You do live on in my memories of you. Memories are of the past. They keep popping up in Facebook so you’ll keep being there, too, until some other social media overtakes the world’s attention.

But my heart knows you are no longer here. We cannot dream of the future together anymore. We cannot go together on the belated “honeymoon” we have already reserved for next year. We cannot plan out the wonderland our back yard was going to be for all of our grandchildren. I can feel your absence there, right in my heart. The fact that I love you is there but it feels like a balloon that has deflated and is devoid of air, of oxygen. It feels there, yet empty, barren, unoccupied, desolate.

Love is also an interesting thing. I remember wondering, when I was pregnant with Luke, how I would ever have room to love a child as much as I did Austin. By the time I was pregnant with Owen, I had it all figured out; you just grow more. And more again when you begin to love daughters-in-love and grandchildren. So, now I just need to figure out how my heart can be so full of so many and yet feel so destitute, so bewildered, so uninhabited, at the same time. I feel like an emotional amputee, learning how to function again in “normal” circumstances. And yet there is a part of me that just doesn’t even want to function. And there certainly is no normal.

I will. I will figure it out. I’m not a quitter. I’ve had to live much of my life as a warrior in one battle or another. The sound of swords clashing in spiritual warfare is not foreign to me. And make no mistake, this is spiritual warfare…all of it. I am mighty only because my God is. He lets me rest on the journey…or perhaps wallow…for awhile and then He always rouses me to my feet…from His arms.

I know where my help comes from. My help comes from the Lord, the maker of Heaven and Earth. Today seems like a good time to wave my white flag (to Him, not the enemy, ever.) I give up. I can’t do this alone. I’m terrible at it. Fight for me, Abba. You fight the shadows. And I will fight beside you, under the shelter of your wing.

Be A Wildflower

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May 28th, 2023

Two years ago, I got this tattoo when I was in Miami with Scott on one of many visits while he was on contract there. The simple things, like seeing this tattoo and knowing he was sitting right by me when I was inked, those things make me so sad now and then tears come out of nowhere. It makes me scared to go out in public because I don’t want to be a reason for people to stare, especially right now. And I don’t need pity. I just need him back.

Today I’m going to try to go back to church for the first time since…well, you know.

Scott had been looking forward to getting his surgery done so that he could go to church with us again. The last two and a half months, he had been in too much pain from his injury to get ready and then to sit in straight-backed chairs for a whole service.

I don’t know if I’ll make it through a whole service today. I’m going to try. I’ve looked up what series they’re doing now and it’s not on anything like marriage so I’m hoping to make it through.

Most days I’ve gotten out of bed. Most days I’ve gotten dressed. Today I brushed my hair and put on tinted moisturizer and just a little waterproof mascara because I know I have to learn to do the normal things again without him here. Most of the time, it feels pointless since he’s not here but I can’t let my feelings determine the worth of what’s left of my life. I’m still here so God says it’s worth it. He says there is purpose in it. And because he loves me, He says that one day there will be joy and not only darkness.

There have been times I have felt worthless, as a person, but God said different. Today, I’m giving God the opportunity to say different about what time is left in my life, even if it’s a whisper. Today, I am a wildflower warrior.

***EDIT TO UPDATE: Today we sang “There’s Another in the Fire” as part of the worship music. “There’s a grace when the heart is under fire,
Another way when the walls are closing in.
And when I look at the space between
Where I used to be and this reckoning,
I know I will never be alone.

There is another in the fire
Standing next to me
There was another in the waters
Holding back the seas
And should I ever need reminding
Of how I’ve been set free
There is a cross that bears the burden
Where another died for me”

I cried. I raised my hands to praise Him in this storm. “You are who You are, no matter where I am. And every tear I cry, you hold in your hands. You’ve never left my side, and though my heart is torn, I will praise You in this storm.”

I cannot pray right now. No matter what I do, the words won’t come. But I will sing.

And I still want to just be a wildflower…actually, I guess I’ve been one for awhile.

And, just so you know a little bit about what’s “behind” the tattoo:

May 28th, 2021

I got a new tattoo.

It’s wildflowers.

Wildflowers aren’t planned; they aren’t even meant to be there.

But they still have a purpose, even if they are weeds. They are still beautiful despite what people may think because God created them just as they are.

They were already a part of His plan. And despite the struggle, they keep coming back. No matter what mows them down or plucks them up, they rise again, reaching for Heaven. Wildflowers are warriors.

Be a wildflower.

Nothing is without meaning and purpose.

May God, the source of all hope, fill you with all JOY and PEACE, by means of your FAITH in Him, so that your hope will continue to GROW by the POWER of the Holy Spirit.
~ 𝓡𝓸𝓶𝓪𝓷𝓼 15:13

Heal Loudly

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May 27th, 2023

Healing loudly can also help heal others. Reading about others’ grief has helped me to know that I’m not crazy, or alone, or completely losing the plot while walking this road. I intend for others to receive the same from me. Not just on this road but on other paths I’ve walked, as well. The journey may be hard but it doesn’t have to be walked alone. God’s there, but other people are more tangible sometimes and help remind you that He is, too.

Gift from Heaven, First Class Mail…

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May 26th, 2023

I lost it today. Fully lost it.

The mail came. I got a notification that a package had been delivered and I didn’t order anything. But I’ve gotten a couple of things that someone has sent from Amazon in kindness over the last couple of weeks so I figured that’s what it was.

You’re guessing what happened because you’ve seen it in some movie somewhere. Because this kind of thing only happens on the Hallmark Channel. But it did.

He sent me a gift. 😭💔

I opened the package and there was an envelope inside. I opened it and that’s when it happened. The floodgates opened but so did the ache in my heart explode.

It said, “Love, Scott”

I can’t explain the plethora of feelings that overtook me then. I started hard, ugly-cry, sobbing, folding over into myself. This is it, the last gift ever. The last surprise. The last…the last…the last…. When I tell you I cried, I mean that it was a hurricane of emotion pouring out, felt like my soul was shaking, felt like an emptying of my spirit…felt like…loss. And beauty, all at one time. It was tumultuous.

Scott used to randomly go on Amazon and pick something out of my “saved for later” queue and have it sent to me. Sometimes he would be home when it came. Sometimes he would be in Miami or New Hampshire, or North Carolina. A cute pair of sandals. Earrings. Something I’d been wanting to get for Lillian before she was even here. A dress. An air fryer. There would be no occasion. He just wanted to literally spoil me. He just wanted to give to me. He just wanted to love me and make sure I knew it, all the time. And this is the last.

There was a cute wooden box inside. I had trouble opening it. Luke & Patrice were here so Luke had his arms wrapped around me as I tried to reel it in, the tidal wave of emotion that was drowning me. Patrice cried, holding Lillian, in the other chair. When I did get it open, a silver chain and charm were inside. The side I saw first was his fingerprint. He left a piece of himself for me. The flip side was engraved: “I love you more. 3/21/17,” our marriage anniversary.

I know it was from him. Not some well-meaning family member or friend. I know a lot of people say I love you more but it came from China or Thailand or something. That stuff always takes weeks and weeks to get here. No way someone ordered it a week ago. We didn’t even get his body back to the funeral home until last Saturday so there was no time for someone to get his fingerprint and have it sent. It was 100% from him.

I love that he was thinking of me. I love that he was so thoughtful in his choice of gifts, as he always was. He was always very sentimental. This present just shows exactly who Scott was. Exactly how he treated me and loved me. But, oh, how it still hurts. It hurts so much because it was the last one and my life will never be the same. I will find a way to pick up and carry on for my family but a part of my life is irrevocably changed in a way that I hate. I want him back so badly. He should be HERE, with ME. He should be here. And that just hurts. 💔💔💔

I swear my life with Scott WAS just like a movie on the Hallmark Channel, although now it feels like it should be on Lifetime. I always said we had our very own fairytale.

Rage, Rage, Against the Dying of the Light

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May 26th, 2023

GRIEF TRIGGER WARNING (This means to swipe past this post now if my pain right now is too much for you, especially if music is the trigger for you that it is for me – there’s nothing wrong with protecting your own heart and you should. This one is tough for me so it may be tough for you, too, especially if you’re an empath. Read ahead at your own risk.)

When I wake from nightmares in the middle of the night, praying as I reach for the clock that it will be 5 a.m.or later, that’s when it’s worst, I think. He isn’t laying beside me and I know it before my eyes open because I just saw his face again, not in the way that I wanted to.

It’s worse tonight because I don’t even have the release of tears, of a “good cry.” Sometimes the numb and the gravest sorrow intermingle and then it still hurts deeply because the tears refuse to come and help me let it out a little. I can’t sob over his loss so the anger comes back at some point. I’m not there now, just yet, but I’ve already learned the patterns. I know it’s coming.

Anger protects me even though I hate how it feels. I’ll want to scream. Not a “woe is me” scream but the blood-curdling kind. The kind that says I’m out of control because everything around me is. He was taken from me before we had a chance to finish this dance. He was ripped away when we were still in the prime of our beauty. But I think we would have always been in “the prime.”

I’m not angry at Scott. I’m not angry with God. This world is filled with evil all the way back to the serpent who slithered into the garden. Satan is the god of this world and that’s why I can’t wait to leave here one day, to have all of the people I love in one place, together again, where there is no sadness, no mourning, no loss, no pain. I am not meant to go now, understand me. He left me here because there is still work to do, and if I listen then He’ll show me what it is.

But right now the anger won’t come yet, either, so this numb is only the kind that is silencing but still painful. And so I turn to the only place, the only One, who still guards my heart.

He can handle my sadness. He can deal with my heart wrenching pain. He can bring peace, even though it’s temporary when it comes, for now. I go to the foot of the cross. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, Lord. Lift me above the raging waters that threaten to drown me. Rescue me.

“Take me to the King. I don’t have much to bring. My heart is torn in pieces; it’s my offering. Take me to the throne. Leave me there alone, to gaze upon your glory and sing to you this song….take me to the King.”

This chorus has been in my head all week. I haven’t had the strength to listen to it until now. I’ve heard it many times before all of this happened but never felt it so much, never experienced the raw emotion behind the lyrics until now.

The Bible is the same way. I’ve read the Bible cover to cover before (not always in the order it’s written) and have read many passages enough that I can lipsync them when someone starts to speak a verse. But sometimes God gives me new perspective on what a passage is saying when I am going through different joys or trials in my life. The Bible isn’t static. Oh, His word is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, but it isn’t always spoken in the same tone. Different seasons of life will alter the punctuation, the way it is spoken to your heart. If you haven’t read it in awhile, take it out. See what He’s trying to tell you today and, although He won’t say something “different,” you’ll read it in a new light with the changes you’ve experienced in your life since the last time you read it. Ask Him to take you where you need to be and don’t stop after reading one sentence, but let the story of that passage be revealed to you. For me, sometimes I read at first and cannot figure out why this pertains to me, to my situation, but it always comes to me later when that happens.

I know that, one day, this song won’t bring me pain anymore; it will bring me peace. Peace because I will know that even in my darkest hour, He was finding a way to speak to me. Finding a way to reveal Himself. Finding a way to remind me that He is still here and that all I have to do, when I feel empty and have nothing left to give, is to seek Him. To go to the throne of His glory. On that day, when it no longer hurts, this song will represent yet another promise that He always will.

He is here, hallelujah.
He is here, amen.
He is hear, holy, holy.
I will bless His name again.
He is here; listen closely.
Hear Him calling out your name.
He is here; you can touch Him.
You will never be the same.

A Love Worth Living For

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May 11th, 2023

Scott and I had the most beautiful love story.  

I had been a single mom for years.  I had given up on dating.  People who worked with me then could tell you that I had decided I would be happy to live the rest of my life just taking care of my boys and reading books.  I was done – stick a fork in me.  Being in love cost too much and I wasn’t a rich woman anymore.  I was drained.  I didn’t know then that there was someone God was wrapping His arms around right then who was done, too.  And God already knew that He could blow those theories out of the water with what he had planned for Scott and I.  We couldn’t have even imagined how good it was gonna get.

I had become fiercely independent in the years I was on my own with my boys.  I could do it all.  I could change my own tire and my own oil.  I could rip out the insides of the back of my toilet and replace them (with the help of my baby sister and a bottle of red for amusement…we didn’t even need the wine because we were pretty amused and amusing).  I could work like a boss and could mom like one, too.  I was trying to prove that if Superwoman existed, here I was.  I didn’t need a man.  So there.

Scott was the quintessential southern gentleman.  Chivalrous, kind, thoughtful, and he literally put everyone before himself.  How anyone would ever have let him go was always beyond me but, when I found him, I truly thanked God for the broken roads.  He still opened car and rooms doors ahead of me, pulled out chairs, wouldn’t let me walk on the outside of the sidewalk…all things I had been teaching my boys already hoping they would one day turn into the kind of man he was (spoiler alert: they did, and they all saw him doing these things as a man’s example and not their just their mama reminding them).

We met in a little tiny office outside of the emergency room at the hospital where I already worked and where Scott had recently been hired.  I don’t even know what it was.  I was staunchly opposed to ever being in a relationship again and in walks this man who didn’t do or say anything outlandish but to whom, I swear to you, I was instantly conjoined in a way I couldn’t explain.  A friend who was in the room teased me afterwards for making googly eyes at Scott and I told him he was crazy because I didn’t do that.  But I was somehow instantly twitterpated (my beautiful mother-in-law’s words soon after we met).  For the next two weeks I could scarcely think of anything else.  I sought reasons to go to the ER when he was working and flirt with him shamelessly.  Scott would later tell me he already felt the same connection but, being much more recently divorced than I and still very haunted, he thought he was just imagining that I kept showing up to see and talk to him, that I was just being nice to the new guy (who didn’t even work in my department).  We were both jaded but God was putting the pressure on because we were straight-up already connected in a way I will never be able to fully explain.  I can tell you that, if you don’t believe in love-at-first-sight, you’re wrong.  We both felt it.  

I often joked in the following years that I had to chase him for two whole weeks before he’d even give me the time of day and ask me out on a date.  He would staunchly deny that and tell me that he thought about it constantly, too, but just knew “someone like me” would turn him down.  Someone like me…he always made me feel that way, like someone he couldn’t believe he had.  But he had my whole heart and soul.  I was the lucky one.

Our first date was dinner at the Brown Lantern and then a walk through Lowe’s to find a ceiling fan he needed at home.  We each didn’t want to go home so we went to my house and watched a movie on my couch.  When he left, I remember asking God what He was doing because I didn’t want to hurt again and I knew that was what love does but somehow this felt different.  It felt like…right.  It felt like a gift.  It felt like the rest of my life.  God, I wish it had been the rest of my life.  But I know that he wouldn’t have wanted to be here without me either.

About two weeks of random bouquets of flowers and dates, and Scott stealing my car keys while I worked, taking it to completely detail it and leave flowers inside and on top of it before putting them back right before I left work, later…he told me he loved me.  And I didn’t say it back.  I panicked.  I thought, we’ve dated for two weeks, this is too fast, this is crazy.  And then I called him and told him I loved him back – not because I felt pressured by his words but because I admittedly couldn’t explain how they were true but our hearts were already sewn together by a thread that we would turn into marriage one day.

We met each others kids, five boys between us, and started having dates with all of us together sometimes.  It wasn’t seamless because blending has its own drama but we were so in love that we just became more and more tightly knit with every obstacle.  And there were plenty.  We always persevered.  Our song was I Want Crazy by Hunter Hayes.  

“But I don’t want “good” and I don’t want “good enough”

I want “can’t sleep, can’t breathe without your love”

Front porch and one more kiss

It doesn’t make sense to anybody else

Who cares if you’re all I think about?

I’ve searched the world and I know now

It ain’t right if you ain’t lost your mind

Yeah, I don’t want easy, I want crazy”

And we had crazy.  We had all of the above.  Every bit of it.  We had a fairytale.

But fairytales always have scary parts where the wicked witch gets you to take a bite of the apple.  We had that, too.  We both had lived through so much trauma and that doesn’t just disappear.  Although mine and Scott’s love never faltered, life kept on trying to intervene and mess things up.  I can tell you with 100% accuracy that Scott has loved me at my best and he has loved me at and through my worst.  And his bests and worsts were different than mine, because we weren’t the same person but just shared the same heart, but I loved him wholeheartedly through all of his.  Yes, we had fights.  We ranted at each other sometimes over what seem like the silliest things now.  Sometimes we even let the sun go down on our anger but it never lasted long.  We never spent a day not loving each other.  Not a single one.

Scott always made me feel like he didn’t deserve me.  I always knew it was the other way around.  He loved me unyieldingly, unshakeably, tremendously.  He loved everyone.  Scott didn’t just make friends everywhere he went – he made family.  He was the most magnificent nurse because he worked tirelessly and endlessly to not only care for his patients with a fervor that made others tired just watching, but he cared for his coworkers, helping anyone in need at the drop of a hat.  Every travel assignment begged him to renew his contract.  They knew what they’d be missing when he left.  And I don’t think I’ve ever met a nurse with whom he worked who didn’t tell me that he talked about me, all the time, and how much he loved me.  I joked with him about the percentage of female nurses on these travel assignments and to watch out for their womanly wiles but it was all in jest because I knew.  He always made sure I knew from him and everyone else.  And before twenty years of nursing, he was a very proud member of the United States Air Force, a war veteran of Desert Storm having served two tours during the Gulf War.  Scott’s entire life was devoted to service of others.  I have been so very blessed to have him in mine.

He always wanted me to need him and I fought him for a good while because of my independence.  It used to aggravate him that I wanted to do everything myself and he just wanted to help.  The funny thing is that I don’t even really know when that stopped because he listened to me, understood the reasons behind my hard-won independence, and slowly moved brick by brick to tear my wall down.  It was like, as he moved the bricks off of my wall, he laid them in a stack next to me so i would always know they were there if I needed to take them back…and then I never wanted to again.  I knew I was safe with him.  My heart was safe, I was safe, our family was safe.  I know that I got comfortable needing him a long time ago but I can’t tell you when because he helped me into it with a gentleness that made me not feel insecure or weak for doing it.  He loved me right into it.  

When my beautiful husband left this earthly plane yesterday, my heart shattered into millions and millions of tiny pieces.  I’ve lost my balance because he was the other side of it.  I’ve lost so much that the only way I know how to give it words was to tell you what we were together.  Even then, it doesn’t do us or the loss any justice.  Everyone keeps saying “there are no words” and you’re right.  There were no words grand enough, big enough, sweet enough, kind enough, amazing enough, to describe the man my husband was.  And there are not enough words to describe who we were together.  We won together and we lost together.  And now I am lost alone.  And each minute that passes (that feels like an hour) keeps shouting at me that there is no resolution to this.  I’ve missed him when he was travel nursing but we always, every single day, talked on the phone, texted constantly, and there were visits – him to home and me to him.  Today I don’t know how I will fill my time.  We didn’t hang out with other people much.  We had friends and we loved a lot of people but we were always content to just be together.  We were always together even when we were forced to be physically apart.  My soul feels the emptiness where his left this world yesterday.  It feels so very dark.  I’m so thankful for every single moment that we had to spend together, loving each other.

Scott was a man saved by grace.  He is undoubtedly singing praises at the foot of the King of Kings.  His neck and back don’t hurt anymore.  His PTSD demons don’t haunt him any longer.  There is no fear or anguish or pain for him anymore.  I’m thankful for that.  And I know how hurt and lost he would have been without me if I had gone first so I’m glad he doesn’t have to feel what I’m feeling now. 

I have the most beautiful, wonderful children to walk with me.  It hurts me to see how hurt they are right now and also that seeing me hurt is hurting them.  But I want them all to know that I would never have given up the opportunity to have a love so very BIG, to forego the loss I am feeling so very much now.  

My message to you: Love is worth the risk. If you ever have the chance to love this big, take it.  It’s gonna feel messy sometimes.  You’re going to feel mad, sad, frustrated, irritated sometimes.  Being so close that you can’t tell your own heart from that of someone else makes those kinds of feelings inevitable.  Take those things with a grain of salt and forgive.  And forgive again.  And again.  Don’t take it for granted.  Don’t waste it.  Savor it.  

I feel like we both knew what we had.  We savored it.

Jonathan Scott Raulerson – 1/22/74 – 5/10/23