Marshall Ramsey

In an old 1970’s-style ranch house in an older part of town were two green recliners.  Both showed considerable wear from many years of constant use.  Only one had a person sitting in it.  A man in his mid-60’s sat there, in the dark, watching a TV show that he cared nothing about.  In the kitchen were empty casserole dishes, stacked messily in the sink. None had been washed. Over the back of the couch lay his black suit.  He sat there, glassy-eyed and sipping on his bourbon.  It had been four days and he already missed her.  Now she was in the ground and her recliner was empty.

His regrets where stacked higher than the dishes.

All the times in their lives that he taken for granted. All the times they were sitting in their chairs and did not speak.  They could have been living. Now that time had passed.  He looked over at the calendar — it was Valentine’s Day.  Never had he felt so alone in his life.

The grandfather clock ticked loudly to the beat of his broken heart.  He looked down at the obituary in the paper. There she was with her beautiful smile.  He remembered that smile when they had gotten married. He remembered her gazing into his eyes when they made love. He felt her heartbeat when she grabbed his hand and squeezed it.  The clock ticked faster.  Her loss was driving him mad.  He closed his eyes. The world fell into completely darkness.  All those years that he had taken her for granted and now she was gone.

He opened his eyes and saw a beautiful blue glow in the hallway.  He got up slowly to investigate but felt cold.  Fear pulsed through his veins as he tried to walk toward the light.  But he couldn’t. Something kept him pinned to this recliner. He sat back down and watched as the glow got brighter.

And then he saw her. Her translucent spirit floated into the room and sat down in her recliner.  She was in white flowing robes and had flowers in her long, gray hair.  He reached out to touch her face as tears flowed down his.  “I…..miss……you…….so………badly………..”

He cursed every moment of his life he had taken his wife for granted.

His wife’s ghost turned toward him and smiled.  She reached out her hand and grabbed his — he felt a love he had never felt before.  She spoke softly in a whisper.  It was almost like she had to struggle to be heard in another dimension.  “Never take life for granted.  I love you so very much and will always love you forever.”

And then she disappeared.

His heart shattered like a china plate dropped onto a concrete floor. He felt himself sink lower and lower into the recliner.  He closed his eyes and a loud noise startled him.

He screamed.

The loud noise had been his very-much-alive wife snoring.  He jumped up, startled and ran over to her recliner. She woke with a start, finding him inches from her face.

“What? Uh… what are you doing?” she asked him quite surprised.

“I love you, I love you, I love you.” the husband cried as he ran his hands all over your face.

“Have you been drinking again?” the wife asked skeptically. “What’s wrong with you?”

The man did not respond. Instead, he pulled his wife out of her recliner and said, “Let’s go out to dinner. Your favorite restaurant?  How about it?  And then we can go dancing — and if you like, we can even go see that movie you love. ”

The wife looked at her husband like he had hit his head. “May I ask what has gotten into you?”

“I had the most frightening dream.” he said.

And that Valentine’s night, the two recliners sat empty.  And from that night on, an old married couple never took each other for granted again.

1. The moment my kids have been waiting for all day (my wife and me, too) : FOO FIGHTERS!
2. One of if not my favorite FOO FIGHTERS song: Walk. It’s gotten me through many early mornings driving to work.
3. I can listen to #foofighters‘ Wasting Light and it stands toe-to-toe with their Greatest Hits album. A great late-career album.
4. My nine-year-old heard Whitney Houston and said, “She was really talented, what a shame.” Wise child.
5. No son, it is Coldplay, not cold pack. #fouryearoldmistakes
6. Way to take on Auto-Tune Dave Grohl! #foofighters
7. Rock education continues: My oldest just asked, “Who are the Beach Boys.” Geez.
8. Someone should’ve used dolphin-friendly nets. Lady Gaga got caught in one!
9. The Beach Boys sound better after 50 years than some bands do after five. #win
10. “Lying in bed just like Brian Wilson did Well I’m lying in bed just like Brian Wilson did.” Barenaked Ladies
11. You have to be awesome if Stevie Wonder introduces you.
12. Nearly 48 years to the day since the Ed Sullivan appearance and Paul McCartney is still bringing the crowd to its feet.
13. Told my wife I was going to get her an outfit like #KatyPerry‘s for Valentine’s Day. After 18 years, I still make her laugh.
14. Good thing they have all that fire on stage. Otherwise, Katy Perry would be cold. #halfnekkid
15. Adele’s performance was so good that I won’t mind my wife playing her over and over for the next week.
16. Nice tribute to Glen Campbell via Band Perry.
17. Glen Campbell reminds me of my 1970’s A.M. radio tuned to WSB 750 in Atlanta. That’s not a bad thing.
18. BREAKING NEWS: Bon Iver makes every man with thinning hair feel darn good about himself.
19. You could hear a mouse fart in the Grammy Hall right now. Jennifer Hudson has the crowd spellbound.
20. In a world where loud and tacky rule, Jennifer Hudson’s tribute to Whitney Houston was amazingly tasteful.
21. Mickey Mouse just told the crowd to avoid the brown acid.#grammys
22. My wife: “Imagine the checkered red print on Lady Gaga’s face when she takes off that net.”
23. Just nodded off and had a nightmare of a demonic Mickey Mouse doing battle with Nicki Minaj. Thanks #grammys

The red clouds reflected off the steel gray water of the reservoir’s calm water.  A slight breeze from the north caused small, rippled waves that bothered no one but a handful of mallards who were resting their wings.  The breeze signaled the impending sunrise —  A fresh start for the day.  It was a clean slate for the humans who were beginning to stir. The morning called out like a child playing Hide ‘n’ Seek: “Ready or not, here I come.”

The husband opened one eye and then the other.  The clock was three minutes from when the alarm was supposed to go off. With a slight grumble, he shut it off and thought about how cold the floor would be.  His brain tried to con him into staying in bed, “Just a few more minutes.”  Who was he to argue?  But he had work to do.  He had a vow to live up to.

Across the room, there was a hospital bed.  In it was the beautiful woman he had once made a powerful vow to.  “For better or worse, ” he remembered the priest’s words with a smile. They were just kids back then. And those were just words..  The better part was easy. Kids. Trips. Jobs. Love making. Smiles. Hugs. The little things.  “Worse” was killing him inside.  Three words had rocked their worlds: “You have cancer.” Three more words nearly destroyed them: “It is back.” His wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer four years ago.  Six months ago, it had returned.

The man always got up at sunrise. He’d never take one for granted again.

He walked quietly over to his wife and gently stroked her bald head.  The medicine that was supposed to cure her was nearly killing her.  But she didn’t complain. No, cancer had met a powerful foe.  A quiet warrior who battled with the strength of an army.  The kids would forever know that their mother was a fighter.  He rubbed the back of his hand against her sleeping face, “I’m so glad they have your genes.”

The red glow of the sunrise leaked through the room’s curtains.   It represented hope burning away the darkness.  He thought of their wedding again. While the “For Better” part of their vow had been the most enjoyable, “The Worse” had made them truly one.  They were a team. And they were fighting this beast together.

He went across the house and gently woke the kids. They had a daughter and a son — old enough to understand what was going on but too young to be told the odds.  Both kids had aged 20 years in the past four. Cancer had that effect on a family. The tears. The fear. The strain.  Cancer’s attack on their mom had stolen their childhoods.  “Time for school.” The kids poured sleepily out of their beds and headed to the kitchen.

“What did the doctor say about mom?” the son asked quietly.

Honesty within reason with the kids was rule #1 during this battle. “The doctor was impressed with your mom’s scans.  They are serious, but the new drug is making progress.  The trial is just beginning and there is hope.”

Hope. There was that word again. Like fire needs fuel and oxygen to burn, their family needed hope.  And like the sunrise lighting their home, they were finally getting some.

“Your mom is an amazing woman. If anyone can beat this, it is her.  Why? She has so much to live for.  She is living for you.” The dad pointed at the two kids.

The kids finished up breakfast, got ready and quickly headed out to catch the bus.  The dad drank his coffee from the front porch and waved (to their embarrassment he was sure) at them as they drove off for the day.

“Good,” he thought. “Now I can get to work.”

He went in and got his card ready. He then put the roses in vases and tied the balloons to her bed.  He then went in the closet and got the box out. He opened it carefully and pulled the stuffed animal out. Carefully, he lifted her arm and put the animal under it.  He leaned over and whispered three more words into her ear.

“Happy Valentine’s Day.”

Her right eye opened slowly and then both opened wide when she saw the 20 roses (one for every year they had been married.)  She then felt the stuffed animal and picked it up and looked at it with curiosity.

“What’s this?” she asked with a weak voice.

He smiled and said, “It’s a toy Honey Badger.  The Honey Badger is the most fearless and toughest animal on the planet. It can even survive being bit by a cobra.”

She thought of the YouTube video they had watched so many times and  said, “Honey Badger don’t care.” she said, sounding like its narrator Randall.  They laughed.

“The Honey Badger has got nothin’ on you, hon. Happy Valentine’s Day.”  He kissed her on her bald head and wiped a tear from his face.

Like the cobra, cancer had met its match. The new experimental drug would work on her, sending her back into remission. They would share many more sunrises and Valentine’s Days together.  And on that Valentine’s Day, a husband would learn that sometimes, “For Better” comes from “Worse.” And that his wife was way tougher than the Honey Badger.