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I just read your "Opening Lines" and felt compelled to write you this note.
Five years ago, on July 8th, I lost my husband of 30-plus years, to a heart attack. He too, was fit, maybe 10 lbs. overweight, had no history of high blood pressure or excess cholesterol and was extremely active. Because he was the volunteer deputy fire chief of our town he had to undergo regular medical checkups as well. In addition, there is no family-related heart disease known to us.
In the few months before his death, he took to smoking those wee cigars (to this day I feel this bad habit added to his demise). He led a very busy life. He taught at our local community college and spent weekends as a member of a race-car pit crew, a position that he thoroughly enjoyed!
We were also in the midst of a living room makeover and were accustomed to doing most of the work on these projects ourselves. So to say he was stressed was likely an understatement, but he'd always handled everything in the past…
During a Monday night's sleep, he had a terrible pain that I wasn't aware of, but he mentioned it in passing on Tuesday. He headed off to school on Wednesday and we installed trim around our new polished floors that evening and nothing was said of the previous day's event. Thursday morning was spent preparing for our annual family vacation with our three grown sons. After lunch I headed out to do a few last errands. I returned home 2 1/2 hours later to find a policeman in my house. While on the phone with the Fire Chief my husband had fallen to the floor with a deadly heart attack. The chief alerted the department and all the men were stunned to find their beloved comrad gone. He was 52.
Susan; I am happy for you to have Greg at your side. Treasure every minute. You know as well as I do that your life can change in a heartbeat!
