THE
ANNIVERSARY 1932
This
is another love story, another spouse remembering a departed spouse, exactly
like
the couple on the motorcycle except no bike, no
heroin, and it takes place in Ogden,
Utah.
After
my mother died on Aug 30 2001 my dad made sure we marked each anniversary. .
At
first, my brothers and sister and I would
travel hours to get home, but eventually we got
to the point where just one or two of us would make
it back to go to Sacrement Meeting
with
him and spend the day together.
The
great love of his life, the man who broke up with her right before her college
graduation, only to return two years later claiming he’d
traveled the world and hadn’t found
anyone to compare with her, remained a daily presence
in her life. He spoke about her so
alive
that people were sometimes surprised to learn that she
was not. He took over the
garden she’d planted and made her own.
When the 10 anniversary of her death approached, my dad began talking
about it and
planning for it weeks in advance. The date
on his kitchen calendar was circled and marked
R.I.P. Of course he wanted all of us there but
settled for my brother coming the day of and
my sister and me the following weekend.
The day before the anniversary he went to
morning Sacrement Meeting and walked
downtown for lunch with friends, and later told my
sister on the phone that my mom still
felt so close that as he was walking back home , he heard some
yell and thought, Oh, there’s
“Precious.”
That
evening he went out of water flowers, just as my mother, 10 years prior, had
gone
out to do garden to pick vegetables before she
died. A neighbor heard the tin watering can
clank onto the cement as he feel and hit his
head. My dad died within hours, on Aug, 30
2012, the 10th anniversary. He needed to mark that
anniversary, he wanted us all home and
my dad had waited long enough.
DR KARL
WALLACE DDS
To read more Dr. Wallace DDS stories go to: karlwallaceblog.blogspot.com
