Читать книгу The Baby’s Cross: A Tuberculosis Survivor’s Memoir - C. Gale Perkins - Страница 7

Author’s Note

My husband Evan died on September 6, 1996. I have been reflecting on our forty-two years of married life and how this wonderful man helped me to learn about life and all that I had missed in my childhood. He is gone. Hot tears rolling down my cheeks, my heart beating so fast it felt as though it was going to explode.

I heard a voice calling to me, “Mom it is time to leave now. The limousine is here.” It took me a minute to realize it was my daughter speaking to me. It was time to leave for the funeral. My body stiffened.

I looked at my daughter. Her eyes were filled with grief and pain, trying to be so strong for me, and I said, “Cindy, I am not going.” Getting in that car and leaving would make everything so final.

Having faced so many traumas in my life, this had to be the most difficult for me. Cindy gently convinced me that we had to go. Looking at her and my two sons, Alan and Paul, gave me the courage and strength to get in the car for the longest ride of my life.

To think of a future at this time seemed impossible. I felt empty and hopeless. I had to drift back to how Evan had taught me to cope with difficult times and really call on all the skills I had learned. I found comfort in holding a doll that I created from childhood, but then it reminded me of all the things that had been taken away from me in life such as my parents, my childhood, my health, but none as painful as losing the love of my life.

It was time to start looking back on my journey in life and reflect on all the positive happenings, to write the story that Evan thought was so important to share with the world. My story is one that tells of pain, hope, love, faith, and determination to live.

My life started on November 14, 1933. It was during a period of time when so many families were hit with an epidemic of tuberculosis. My premature birth was the cause for much worry, and many things were tried to save my life. My story begins on my date of birth at which time I was given the name of Cynthia Mitchell.