| RoxyJosMom | 08-23-2006 09:06 AM |
My husband passed away totally unexpectedly while he was in VA building our son's house. He was due home in a couple days for the holidays (this was the 12/14). He had been in VA since a week b4 Thanksgiving. I had spoken to him that morning. Felt great, excited about x-mas. Krysten's 17 b-day was xmas day. He was going to take her to get a tatoo for her b-day. He was gonna get one too. Daddy-dtr bonding thing. Our son called that afternoon. They were packing up the trucks to go home. He said he didn't feel good, was gonna sit down a min. Passed out. EMT was there within 5 min. They tried, but couldn't save him. Heart attack. A piece of plaque had broken loose and that's what caused it. No pain, never regained consciousness. Just had a physical. In good shape. Strongest man I ever knew. Saw him pick up a fridge and walk out the door with it. Could build a house, by himself. Worked hard his entire life. Never stopped. I never thought a x-mas could be so horrible. I had just finished wrapping all his presents and putting them under the tree about an hour b4 I got the call. I had to unwrap everything and return it to the stores. He and his sons had a contracting bsnss in 3 states. They did mostly gov't contract work. Finally at a point where I was to retire this year. We were looking for land to build a house on. We had 3 sets of plans picked out. 3,000 to 3,800 sq ft. Our dream home. Everything we had worked so hard for was finally falling into place. We had been talking about getting a will made up and increasing our life ins. policies , "just in case". We had just lost a close friend, unexpectedly, in Nov. (she was 37) and that scared us into getting things in order. We were going to take care of it over the holidays. Don't ever put off the important things. I couldn't afford to stay in Myrtle Beach(where we lived). I was working P/T. We got benefits. It was just my play money. Joe was the financial provider. So we came back to PA. Moved from here to SC in 99, because of all the building there. That's what he loved to do - design and build. So, we moved back. My stepmom had a stroke 12/5, caused by so much grief over 2nd anniversary of death of my dad(12/04/03. We took care of her until her death 6/29. So, here I am, looking for a job, desperately, and wondering why God chooses the paths he does for us. That's why YT has been so important to me. I have found others who are going down similar paths that they never expected to be traveling and are having to deal with pain they never thought could hurt so much. I don't feel so alone. Thank you all for letting me share. There is alot more to my nightmare but one of the things Joe taught me was that no matter what may happen in life, be strong, put on your big girl panties, and move forward from there. Don't let anything get the better of you. Oh, forgot, I took Krysten to get her tattoo. It's on her ankle. A red heart with a ribbon across it that says "Daddy" and a halo over it. Joe was 53. | 