When I lost my Dad in 2006, I was living in Vancouver, WA due to a job transfer for my Husband Sam. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye and the last time I talked to him I could hear something in his voice that made me think his heart condition was getting worse. I think he knew too and he mentioned he wanted me to try to make arrangements for he and my Mom to come out again to see us.
About a week later we lost him. Sooo, no time to hug or kiss him again or for him to tell me I was his favorite (only) Daughter. Thirteen years later this is still so fresh to me I can’t believe it. I rushed back to Michigan and of course missed all the Funeral planning and picture gathering etc.. Of course my entire life with him kept running through my mind and I didn’t know what I was going to do without him. As the Funeral neared I really wanted people to know my Dad’s story and how proud I was of everything he had done to make our lives better as well as everyone’s in the small town in which we lived. I asked my Brothers if they would get up and talk about our Dad but they promptly refused. I spent the night before writing a Eulogy in my head and putting it on paper the next morning. I found my voice in story telling.
When I finally returned home I decided to take a Creative Writing class at Clark Community College, which turned into several sessions. Little did I know how much it would change my life and how my life would be turned upside down. It gave me a voice to tell a story, a story of loss, and grief, I would soon be a widow and I needed an outlet for it all..
In 2009 my dream came true and we were transferred to Chicago, where we were only 200 some miles from Kalamazoo so I could visit my family more often. Sam was happy because I was happy. There is a lot more to this story and if you follow my blog you lived it with me. Suffice it to say sometimes there is a downside that accompanies our joy. After a three year battle with head and neck cancer, which he fought so valiantly, I lost my Best Friend and husband on May 14, 2012. It is very difficult to write about, but again, like my Dad, Sam was a person so exceptional and so loved by all who knew him I wanted to tell the world. So here is my attempt to tell you about Samuel G. Bond, Jr., a Man who after God created him, he broke the mold.
This blog covers my life after we moved away from Michigan. It is spiritual in a lot ways and talks about loss, love and being a woman of a “certain age”. I hope you find something in it that you can identify with and that you let me know by following the blog and leaving comments that perhaps my writing has helped you just a little bit….
theresabond.com 