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- Story Listed as: True Life For Adults
- Theme: Family & Friends
- Subject: Life Experience
- Published: 07/11/2023
The Anniversary
Born 1955, F, from Lovelock, Nevada, United States1.
Very shortly after the birthday party and adult barbeque several life changing events came into my life. The first requires me to backtrack some, back to the auto accident. Back to the series of medical emergencies and the subsequent surgeries.
My mother left the hospital against medical advice. She was willing to risk her health and even her death to be with her father. She was there when her parents celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary. Her intentions were noble. It was her head that some thought was somewhere else.
Grandfather was not easily deceived. While my uncles were physically holding his frail frame for him to renew his wedding vows he insisted they take him to my mother. At first he stood in the doorway of the small bedroom. Then he asked, " boys, take me closer. i want to see for myself what your sister is doing.
At his command my uncles helped him to the bedside. " Evelyn, what is wrong with you? '" he asked. She tried to pass her illness off as something temporary.
" Daughter, stop lying. You're sick and this is more than car sickness. Which you've not had before.'" he pressed two fingers against her lips." Evelyn what you have is. Something serious."
Daddy, I wanted to be with you today on your anniversary. She sobbed. I just had to be here. Mama and you will never have your 50th wedding anniversary again.
" Daughter, your mama and I appreciate your desire to be with us today. But we don't want a dead child, not today, not ever."
He turned to my father and said, " put that stubborn girl in your car and get my daughter back to the hospital as fast as possible. And you tell that doctor to keep Evelyn there until she's well."
The anniversary celebration continued under a heavy atmosphere. The festive mood had vanished. The atmosphere was now one of prayer for grandfather and mother.
A guest toasted Grandfather saying, " Here's to another fifty years." Grandfather shook his head and asked to return to bed.
2.
The life altering events that followed were mother once more prematurely leaving the hospital.. This was her way to avoid spending time in a rehabilitation center. Her shenanigans bought her a few months with her father. The shenanigans also bought her the early stages of chemical dependency and deception. Mother was stealing her father's narcotics. The injections and pills served to mask her pain. The dependency was an accident. Mother was never going to admit the theft or her addiction.
Then came Grandfather's death, his funeral, and his burial. I was forbidden to be in attendance past the memorial. Someone would have thought ( Papa) grandfather was an aristocrat by the number of mourners at the two week visitation or memorial.
During the visitation mother was arrested. She and an uncle had crossed the street to a gas station. while mother was enjoying her cigarette an attendant remarked,' who is That old geezer in the funeral home?" Mother was on him like dark at night. She strangled him. " That " Geezer" is my father," she screamed through her tears.
The police were called because of the disturbance. An uncle successfully separated mother from the attendant. He glared at the young man through iced blue eyes. " Son, pray that you grow to be 1/4th the gentleman he was."
The one highlight of the aftermath following my birthday was my cousin's wedding. She was a beautiful bride. The ceremony was as religious as humanly possible. She exchanged vows at the altar of Mitchell Chapel Church of God.
Mother declined the invitation. She declared anyone who attended the ceremony a traitor to grandfather and the family. We were not betraying Papa or the family. Each of us were caught between life and death and the choices we must make.
Some that had planned to attend the ceremony were stopped by the violent thunderstorm. The storm started an hour before the ceremony was to begin. Mother grasped onto the idea that the storm was a bad omen. Something horrible would happen to everyone who attended the wedding.
3.
Soon after the funeral and mother's arrest, mother and father divorced. Father was caught in the community landfill with another woman. The circumstances concerning the landfill and what mother saw remained open for debate.. it was infidelity, everyone was in agreement. The debate was about the woman, was she father's long lost cousin? Was she a co_worker and friend or his girlfriend?
Evelyn had one of her brothers in the car with her. I heard second hand that my uncle endured moments when he felt that mother would kill herself and him. I don't know how but uncle convinced her to stop chasing after them. He convinced her to let the two go. They were not worth his life or hers.
When father returned to the house. The house was a home divided. mother had told my five year old sister and me that Daddy didn't love her or us. Mother said Daddy was leaving and we would no longer have a father. Barbara took my mother's side and I sided with my father.
An isle of refuge from the chaos and confusion came from Sam. He was once more seated beside me as I sat on one of father's overturned cars. Together we talked about the plans we'd have after the summer and throughout high school. When community college came up so did the age difference. Sam would graduate college as I entered community college. I would forever be in the shadow of my friend and knight in shining Armor.
The Anniversary(Martha Hume)
1.
Very shortly after the birthday party and adult barbeque several life changing events came into my life. The first requires me to backtrack some, back to the auto accident. Back to the series of medical emergencies and the subsequent surgeries.
My mother left the hospital against medical advice. She was willing to risk her health and even her death to be with her father. She was there when her parents celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary. Her intentions were noble. It was her head that some thought was somewhere else.
Grandfather was not easily deceived. While my uncles were physically holding his frail frame for him to renew his wedding vows he insisted they take him to my mother. At first he stood in the doorway of the small bedroom. Then he asked, " boys, take me closer. i want to see for myself what your sister is doing.
At his command my uncles helped him to the bedside. " Evelyn, what is wrong with you? '" he asked. She tried to pass her illness off as something temporary.
" Daughter, stop lying. You're sick and this is more than car sickness. Which you've not had before.'" he pressed two fingers against her lips." Evelyn what you have is. Something serious."
Daddy, I wanted to be with you today on your anniversary. She sobbed. I just had to be here. Mama and you will never have your 50th wedding anniversary again.
" Daughter, your mama and I appreciate your desire to be with us today. But we don't want a dead child, not today, not ever."
He turned to my father and said, " put that stubborn girl in your car and get my daughter back to the hospital as fast as possible. And you tell that doctor to keep Evelyn there until she's well."
The anniversary celebration continued under a heavy atmosphere. The festive mood had vanished. The atmosphere was now one of prayer for grandfather and mother.
A guest toasted Grandfather saying, " Here's to another fifty years." Grandfather shook his head and asked to return to bed.
2.
The life altering events that followed were mother once more prematurely leaving the hospital.. This was her way to avoid spending time in a rehabilitation center. Her shenanigans bought her a few months with her father. The shenanigans also bought her the early stages of chemical dependency and deception. Mother was stealing her father's narcotics. The injections and pills served to mask her pain. The dependency was an accident. Mother was never going to admit the theft or her addiction.
Then came Grandfather's death, his funeral, and his burial. I was forbidden to be in attendance past the memorial. Someone would have thought ( Papa) grandfather was an aristocrat by the number of mourners at the two week visitation or memorial.
During the visitation mother was arrested. She and an uncle had crossed the street to a gas station. while mother was enjoying her cigarette an attendant remarked,' who is That old geezer in the funeral home?" Mother was on him like dark at night. She strangled him. " That " Geezer" is my father," she screamed through her tears.
The police were called because of the disturbance. An uncle successfully separated mother from the attendant. He glared at the young man through iced blue eyes. " Son, pray that you grow to be 1/4th the gentleman he was."
The one highlight of the aftermath following my birthday was my cousin's wedding. She was a beautiful bride. The ceremony was as religious as humanly possible. She exchanged vows at the altar of Mitchell Chapel Church of God.
Mother declined the invitation. She declared anyone who attended the ceremony a traitor to grandfather and the family. We were not betraying Papa or the family. Each of us were caught between life and death and the choices we must make.
Some that had planned to attend the ceremony were stopped by the violent thunderstorm. The storm started an hour before the ceremony was to begin. Mother grasped onto the idea that the storm was a bad omen. Something horrible would happen to everyone who attended the wedding.
3.
Soon after the funeral and mother's arrest, mother and father divorced. Father was caught in the community landfill with another woman. The circumstances concerning the landfill and what mother saw remained open for debate.. it was infidelity, everyone was in agreement. The debate was about the woman, was she father's long lost cousin? Was she a co_worker and friend or his girlfriend?
Evelyn had one of her brothers in the car with her. I heard second hand that my uncle endured moments when he felt that mother would kill herself and him. I don't know how but uncle convinced her to stop chasing after them. He convinced her to let the two go. They were not worth his life or hers.
When father returned to the house. The house was a home divided. mother had told my five year old sister and me that Daddy didn't love her or us. Mother said Daddy was leaving and we would no longer have a father. Barbara took my mother's side and I sided with my father.
An isle of refuge from the chaos and confusion came from Sam. He was once more seated beside me as I sat on one of father's overturned cars. Together we talked about the plans we'd have after the summer and throughout high school. When community college came up so did the age difference. Sam would graduate college as I entered community college. I would forever be in the shadow of my friend and knight in shining Armor.
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