Later next year, my daughter and I will attend a writing retreat. Preparing for the retreat, our leader each week gives us a writing prompt to write about. This week’s prompt was a Christmas memory. It didn’t take long for me to recall the Christmas I remembered most.
My late husband David sat in the new recliner Santa had just delivered. He was surrounded by family and by friends, who are considered family. He wept and stared at what he held in his hands. He caressed a leather-bound college degree from Dickinson State University and repeatedly said, “I thought I lost it.”
It was Christmas Eve, 2001. Earlier that fall, David had been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. With no positive results, he had completed six weeks of radiation.
David had worked long and hard to earn his degree, but had become ill shortly before completing his classes and had to drop out.
He went back to college at age 50. He drove 120 miles round trip, three times a week for classes. He also held down a full-time management position.
David was set to graduate and had plans to earn his master’s and then teach. He would have been a great teacher.
To our surprise, his professors all agreed that David had earned his award and made sure he received it.
So, on the Christmas Eve we all knew would be our last one with him, I handed him his degree, wrapped in Christmas paper.
Back then, we had one of those giant camcorders, so we filmed it all. We all took turns holding the camera, but when, one by one, we began to cry, we’d pass it on to the next person.
Christmas Eve 2001 was bittersweet. We knew it was our last with our husband, father, son, and friend, but we were blessed to have the opportunity to give David the absolute best Christmas ever.
David had been a brilliant, outgoing, talented man.
By that Christmas Eve, the tumor had robbed him of the ability to do the simplest of tasks. He couldn’t tie his shoes. His comprehension was gone.
Yet, when he held the degree, it clearly said he graduated with honors.
David lived a life of goodwill. He would always help others.
In return, we were blessed by the many people who came together to make David’s Christmas wish a reality.
There have been many Christmas Eves to come and go since that one. We have welcomed new family members and rejoiced each Christmas we had a new baby.
Life has been good to us. God has blessed us time and again. I know David would be pleased.
Life is good today.
