Rogue Waves #2

On December 5, 2003 my wife and I attended a 50th birthday party for a friend from church. Suddenly I felt a weight on my shoulder and turned to see my wife slumped over onto me. I laid her on the floor, she mumbled something, and slipped into a coma. She had suffered a catastrophic stroke in her brain. There was no warning – no sign of a problem. It was a Rogue Wave. Three days later we removed life support and my wife of almost 30 years died at age 51.

In one moment my life changed forevermore. It was like an unpredictable, sudden storm with a Rogue Wave over 100 feet high had hit my life and knocked me over. But it was only the first Rogue Wave. There were more to come.

One month after my wife died, my mother-in-law, whom I loved, died of the very same thing. Three weeks later, I left my job and my career to cope with my grief. Six months later, one of my best friends went to bed and never woke up. He died in his sleep at age 50. Five months later, my 2 children left home to start their lives as adults – and I was left alone. Five months later, my father-in-law, whom I also loved, suffered the same stroke as his daughter and wife, and died a few months later.

But there was one more Rogue Wave still to come. One month before my father-in-law died my Mom called to tell me she had cancer throughout her body – and there was no hope of recovery. Five months later, with her 3 sons at her bedside, she looked at us and said, “I love you all” and went to be with Jesus.

Throughout those dark days it seemed like my world had turned upside down. And it stayed upside down for a long time. But slowly – over time – and with the help of a gifted Christian counselor, my life started to turn right-side up again.