Anniversaries give us pause to celebrate but sometimes they are also painful. Twenty-five years ago a phone call changed my life. May 16, 1988 was the worst day. The events and experiences that transpired put my life on a course that I would never have imagined; and down a path that forged me into a better person.
That fateful phone call came on a Monday morning and I’d been in a business meeting at work in Denver. The department secretary unexpectedly interrupted the strategy meeting and told me that I had an incoming call from my dad. This was before cell phones or text messages. Annoyed and a little embarrassed at being interrupted, I told Louine, that I’d call back at a break. When she insisted that I take the call, I was surprised, and then I noticed her expression and her eyes. She looked troubled. Something was terribly wrong.
When I got to the phone, my father told me that there had been an accident and that my fiancée, Renée, was in intensive care. He didn’t know details, only that Renée was in critical condition with a broken neck and might not survive. My mind couldn’t fathom the words I was hearing. Then a floodgate of tears erupted and I told Dad that I’d be back in OrangeCounty in a few hours and I asked him to meet me at the airport.
I had moved from Southern California to take a new job in Denver a few months earlier. At that time I’d been engaged to Renée for almost a year, and our plans were for her to join me in Colorado after our wedding which was scheduled for July 23. Our wedding date was two months away and we were both excited to start our new life together. My fiancée was beautiful but not only in a physical way; she had a wonderfully positive attitude and she was a joy to be around. She was charismatic, outgoing, caring, and lighthearted. No baggage. She was as beautiful inside as she was out. The real deal. Everything I had been looking forward to was changed by that fateful phone call.
But God is faithful to me. I’ll share how in the next couple posts……
Awwww…. Mike, you can’t leave us hanging! This is seriously good! Please forgive me for making yours and Renee’s journey sound trite – I don’t. Renee knows about me briefly and I’ve had a similar journey although Doug and I only had 5 years together and for both, later in life. What I’m TRYING to say by my note is that, even though I know yours and Renee’s stories, I’m still so sucked in (sorry, horrible English, I know – LOL) with your gripping story excellently written and igniting. My only negative thought is even though we were warned this is a three-part story, it feels like such a tease. It’s too good a story for us to have to wait! I’m in pain!!! : 0 🙂
May God continue to grow yours and Renee’s story to reach many, many hurting hearts!
Melody Bollinger