Love That Lasts a Lifetime

Chapter 13
Disaster Strikes

You never know what tomorrow may bring. We are not guaranteed that we will even have a tomorrow. That is why we should try and live our lives for today. Enjoy each moment you have here on this beautiful earth that God has created for us. Try and enjoy all the things and people in your life because tomorrow they may be gone. If you love someone make sure they know it. Tell them often how you feel. Let people know that you appreciate them. Live with no regrets if you can. Things in this life can change in an instant. The people you love today can be gone tomorrow.
Things were going very well for Kris and I. Our shop was doing very well. We had done a lot of remodeling around the house and made it the way we wanted it. Painting inside and out and redoing the pool and patio areas. I had a good crew at the shop so I started taking Monday afternoons off just for Kris and I to spend quality time together. I had Nick as my manager and he was doing a terrific job. I would go in to the shop on Monday mornings and get things going and then about 12 or 1 I would take off.
Kris and I would go to lunch or go to the beach. Sometimes we would go to a movie or go shopping. It became our special date day. The kids were older now. Nick, Kerstin and Jeremy were out of the house starting families of their own. Anita and Rebecca were in school on Monday afternoons and had things to do there and were involved in extracurricular activities.
We loved spending time together, we always had. Now we were just getting to do more of it. Besides being my wife and my lover Kris was my best friend. Imagine that, a wife, lover, confidant and a best friend all rolled into one! I was a very blessed man! We talked about everything together. We talked of our past and how far we had come. We talked about how things were going now and how we felt about each other, we realized how blessed we were. We also talked about the future and where we saw our lives going and how we would handle unforeseen events that could come upon us. We discussed what would happen if one of us should pass away suddenly and the other was left here to go on. We both agreed that the other should go on and remarry. Neither of us wanted the other to go on alone. We talked about what we wanted our funerals to be like. Kris expressed that she wanted to be cremated. She said “Ashes to ashes is what the Bible says so that’s what I want.”
For some reason Kris started talking more and more about her dying before me. She said she had a strong feeling about it. I tried to reassure her that we had a long and happy life ahead of us. She still seemed to have that feeling though and expressed it every so often. One night we were talking before bed and she said “You know, I’m going to die before you. I don’t want you to be sad for me because we both know that I will be in heaven.” I said “Cut it out, you know we have a lifetime together yet.” Kris said “No, I don’t think it will be that long. I want you to be happy and remarry right away. As a matter of fact you are going to meet a blond haired, blue eyed bombshell who you are going to fall madly in love with.” Then she paused for a moment and looked at me with her sexy little smile and said “But you can’t have too much fun with her!” We both laughed and I told her to stop talking like that and tried to reassure her that we were going to grow old together. That was in February of 2000.
April 23rd, 2000, it was Easter Sunday morning. I woke up and Kris wasn’t in bed with me. This happened from time to time because she sometimes had trouble sleeping. She would get up and go into the family room and watch T.V. or go out by the pool and sit outside. I got up that morning and went looking for her. I looked through the house and called for her but there was no answer. I then went to the sliding glass doors that led out back to the pool area. I opened the door and stepped outside. When I looked toward the pool I saw Kris floating face down in the middle. Immediately I screamed at the top of my lungs for Rebecca to call 911 and jumped into the water! I grabbed Kris and turned her over and saw that she was already turned blue. She was stiff and it was apparent that she had been in there for some time. I began to cry and scream out loud and I just lost it! I got her to the side of the pool and lifted her out of the water and onto the deck. I was crying out “No, Kris, No! This can’t be happening!” Becca came to the back door with the phone and saw her mom lying there and began to cry and scream out as well. She ran to where we were and saw what I saw, that Kris was dead!