Enduring Love

By Caroline Clemmons

Years ago there was a comedy segment on Saturday Night Live called “That Was The Week That Was.” I don’t watch SNL so I don’t know if they still have that bit. I doubt it. Here is my version:

I had an asthma attack that would not improve. Even using my breathing machine didn’t help much. I’d been on oxygen a few days and that helped. 

Then the power went off.

I know other parts of the country deal with this problem every winter. The thing is, here in North Central Texas we are not accustomed to snow and power outages. It’s been six years since we had a measurable snowfall in Fort Worth.

We don’t have generators and snow blowers and all the snow toys of further north. When something like this happens, we are stuck. Hero and I tried to tough out the storm. We piled comforters on the bed and I stayed in bed. Hero wouldn’t—he prowled the house to make sure it was all right. He checked on me to make sure my oxygen level was high enough. Yep, he’s a worrier/warrior.

Our daughter across town had power, so we went to her house. Another storm was predicted so we hurried. That meant we didn’t really prepare as well as we thought we had. And I ran out of oxygen.

My level dropped way below where I was supposed to go to the ER. Hero tried to get more oxygen delivered. With the snowstorm the company wouldn’t send anyone. They patched him to the EMS, who brought oxygen for me to use until the ambulance arrived.

Yes, I had to go to the hospital. The staff members at Baylor/All Saints/Scott and White were wonderful. The main problem was overcrowding. I spent part of the day on a gurney in the hall.

Unfortunately, we came home to several inches of water from a burst pipe. Our neighbor had thought he turned off our water for us. How were any of us to know the shut off valve to the city didn't work? Our wonderful neighbors came over and used our shop vac to clean up the water. Hero found the leak in our ice maker and we have water again. See how clever he is? 

You are probably wondering what all this has to do with Love In Bloom. Here you have a man who has Parkinson’s but who is busy taking care of me. The late Erma Bombeck expressed that this is true love, not the flowery Romeo and Juliet stories. Enduring love means you care about the other person more than yourself.

Hero and I have been married a lot of years. He still makes my toes curl when he kisses me. He knows the meaning of the word LOVE. I’m so lucky to be married to him.