Anniversaries give us pause to celebrate but sometimes they are also painful.\u00a0 Twenty-five years ago a phone call changed my life. May 16, 1988 was the worst day.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
That fateful phone call came on a Monday morning and I\u2019d been in a business meeting at work in Denver.\u00a0\u00a0 The department secretary unexpectedly interrupted the strategy meeting and told me that I had an incoming call from my dad.\u00a0 This was before cell phones or text messages.\u00a0 Annoyed and a little embarrassed at being interrupted, I told Louine, that I\u2019d call back at a break.\u00a0 When she insisted that I take the call, I was surprised, and then I noticed her expression and her eyes.\u00a0 She looked troubled.\u00a0 Something was terribly wrong.<\/p>\n
When I got to the phone, my father told me that there had been an accident and that my fianc\u00e9e, Ren\u00e9e, was in intensive care.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know details, only that Ren\u00e9e was in critical condition with a broken neck and might not survive.\u00a0\u00a0 My mind couldn\u2019t fathom the words I was hearing. Then a floodgate of tears erupted and I told Dad that I\u2019d be back in OrangeCounty in a few hours and I asked him to meet me at the airport.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0I had moved from Southern California to take a new job in Denver a few months earlier.\u00a0 At that time I\u2019d been engaged to Ren\u00e9e for almost a year, and our plans were for her to join me in Colorado after our wedding which was scheduled for July 23.\u00a0 Our wedding date was two months away and we were both excited to start our new life together.\u00a0 My fianc\u00e9e was beautiful but not only in a physical way; she had a wonderfully positive attitude and she was a joy to be around.\u00a0 She was charismatic, outgoing, caring, and lighthearted.\u00a0 No baggage.\u00a0 She was as beautiful inside as she was out.\u00a0 The real deal.\u00a0\u00a0 Everything I had been looking forward to was changed by that fateful phone call.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But God is faithful to me.\u00a0 I’ll share how in the next couple posts\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Anniversaries give us pause to celebrate but sometimes they are also painful.\u00a0 Twenty-five years ago a phone call changed my life. May 16, 1988 was the worst day.\u00a0 The events and experiences that transpired put my life on a course … Continue reading