From Bettyhere:
We were 10 or 11 in grammer school and at recess the other
children teased me that, "Bernie loves you, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha." It meant
nothing to me, his love was unrequited. I was more interested in hanging by my
knees from the monkey bar or climbing to the top of a tree. Years later I would
learn that little boys do that and I felt bad that I hadn't cared. We continued
on thru middle school and high school, barely nodding to each other, I had my
share of boyfriends--until he asked me to the senior prom. By the time he
brought me home that night I knew I'd spend the rest of my life with him.
Very early on I felt 'something' was wrong, he seemed frightened at times, but there was nothing I knew to be frighted of and I knew he'd take a bullet for me and the children, he was brave, strong, decent, good, and handsome, but 'something' was there and eventually it was named Alzheimer's. Sometimes it played havoc with our marriage, I was too often angry and didn't know why--what had he done--how could I describe any of it? Well, you all know that, and yet we loved each other so much. I cared for him, mostly by myself, for 10 years and learned to love him even more--even tho he could drive me up the walls. I did not want him to leave me, but I was grateful when he was finally at peace, he deserved his peace and so did I. We'd been married 53 years by then.
Very early on I felt 'something' was wrong, he seemed frightened at times, but there was nothing I knew to be frighted of and I knew he'd take a bullet for me and the children, he was brave, strong, decent, good, and handsome, but 'something' was there and eventually it was named Alzheimer's. Sometimes it played havoc with our marriage, I was too often angry and didn't know why--what had he done--how could I describe any of it? Well, you all know that, and yet we loved each other so much. I cared for him, mostly by myself, for 10 years and learned to love him even more--even tho he could drive me up the walls. I did not want him to leave me, but I was grateful when he was finally at peace, he deserved his peace and so did I. We'd been married 53 years by then.
Now he lives on in our children and grandchildren, but there
are times when I miss his love and altho I never expect someone to love me that
way, over a lifetime, ever again--I feel blessed and grateful that it all
happened that way.
From Leighanne:
Our story really starts back years before we ever
met. I was about 14 - not popular. I used to get so down and wonder why in the
world guys just weren't in to me. I finally decided to pray about it. I didn't
like obsessing about it. So I told God that I would not worry about boyfriends
or the lack thereof, if He would tell me when I meet the one He has planned for
me. Now fastforward about 7 years...
My family had just moved to Kentucky and had been visiting the area churches trying to find our church home. We visited First Baptist and they had 4 people get up and sing a song that these people had performed when they were in the youth group at the church. Robert was one of them. I took one look at him and it was as if someone sat down next to me on the pew and said Leighanne, that's the one. That's the one I've chosen for you. It kind of freaked me out. From that point on, I set out to find out who Robert was, how old he was, etc...
My family joined the church and we began going to Sunday School. When I went into the college and careers class, there was Robert. His sister and brother in-law taught the class and it didn't take them long to play match makers. After a couple of months, Robert got the nerve up to ask me out and the rest is history. We've been married for over 15 years. We have 2 great kids.
Sometimes, I wonder just "who" it was that spoke to me that day. I wonder how can this be what God has chosen for me. Now, I tend to think that it wasn't so much that Robert was chosen for me, but rather I was chosen for him. However it went, the good has far outweighed the bad. I'm a better person for having been married to Robert. I wouldn't go back and change anything.
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