Читать книгу This Is Not the Life I Ordered - Deborah Collins Stephens - Страница 20

“I survived the massacre in Guyana and went on to marry an emergency-room physician. I was also elected to serve in the California legislature. We had our first child and life was turning out to be just as I had dreamed. We tried for more children, but after two miscarriages, a failed adoption, and fertility treatments, Steve and I decided to give up on our dream of another child. I launched a statewide campaign to become California's Secretary of State. Miraculously, three months later, I found myself pregnant in what doctors termed a high-risk pregnancy. I promptly withdrew from the campaign to focus on the health of our unborn child.

“On a rainy January day, three months into my pregnancy, I was en route to Sacramento when my secretary tracked me down to tell me that Steve had been in a car accident. I immediately phoned the emergency room and talked with the attending physician. I could tell by his voice that my husband's injuries were severe and I was an hour away. As I rushed back to the hospital, I feared the worst.

“Once I arrived, it seemed like hours before they would let me see Steve. When I finally got to see him in the ICU, he had a shunt in his head and was on a respirator. His body was warm, but the machines indicated he had no brain function. I kissed him. I held him. I told him I loved him, even though I knew he couldn't hear me. I couldn't believe that yet another nightmare was unfolding in front of me.

“I later learned that an uninsured driver with faulty brakes had careened through a stop sign, broadsiding Steve's car. His carelessness killed a talented, caring, vital man. I was now a pregnant widow with a young son.

“The loss of my husband was traumatic. I no longer even wanted to get out of bed. Yet, I really had no choice. I was the sole supporter of two children, one yet unborn. Steve had no life insurance, so his death was both an emotional and a financial disaster. I had to sell everything, including my home. I spent the next eight years as a single mother raising two children.

“Today, many years later, I am fortunate to live with great joy and happiness. I am married to a wonderful man, Barry Dennis, whom I met on a blind date. He was a confirmed bachelor, yet, five months later, we were engaged! My children are now happy, well-adjusted, and healthy adults.

“I want women to remember that, when life leaves them alone on the tarmac—whether it be the devastating loss of a loved one, the shattering of a lifelong dream, the loss of a job, or events that turn the world upside down—they can always learn to walk again. I am living proof that women can reinvent and rebuild their lives, no matter what hardships they have faced.”