Author: Debbi Smoot
THE LAST "I LOVE YOU"
Carol's husband was killed in an accident last year. Jim, only
52, was driving home from work. The other driver was a teener with a
very high blood-alcohol level. Jim died instantly. The teenager was
in the emergency room for less than two hours.
There were other ironic twists: It was Carol's fiftieth
birthday, and Jim had two plane tickets to Hawaii in his pocket. He
was going to surprise her. Instead, he was killed by a drunk driver.
"How have you survived this?" I finally asked Carol a year later.
Her eyes welled up with tears. I thought I had said the wrong
thing, but she gently took my hand and said, "It's all right, I want
to tell you. The day I married Jim, I promised I would never let him
leave the house in the morning without telling him I loved him. He
made the same promise. It got to be a joke between us, and as babies
came along it got to be a hard promise to keep. I remember running
down the driveway, saying 'I love you' through teeth clenched when I
was mad, or driving to the office to put a note in his car. It was a
funny challenge.
"We made a lot of memories trying to say 'I love you' before
noon every day of our married life.
"The morning Jim died, he left a birthday card in the kitchen
and slipped out to the car. I heard the engine starting. Oh no, you
don't buster, I thought. I raced out and banged on the car window
until he rolled it down. 'Here on my fiftieth birthday, Mr. James E.
Garret, I, Carol Garret, want to go on record as saying I love you!'
"That's how I survived. Knowing that the last words I said to
Jim were, 'I LOVE YOU!'"
--------------------------------------------------
SAY IT NOW
If you have a tender message
Or a loving word to say,
Don't wait till you forget it,
But whisper it today!
The tender words unspoken,
The letter never sent,
The long forgotten messages,
The wealth of love unspent.
For these some hearts are breaking,
For these some loved ones wait,
Then give them what they are needing,
Before it is too late!
THE LAST "I LOVE YOU"
Carol's husband was killed in an accident last year. Jim, only
52, was driving home from work. The other driver was a teener with a
very high blood-alcohol level. Jim died instantly. The teenager was
in the emergency room for less than two hours.
There were other ironic twists: It was Carol's fiftieth
birthday, and Jim had two plane tickets to Hawaii in his pocket. He
was going to surprise her. Instead, he was killed by a drunk driver.
"How have you survived this?" I finally asked Carol a year later.
Her eyes welled up with tears. I thought I had said the wrong
thing, but she gently took my hand and said, "It's all right, I want
to tell you. The day I married Jim, I promised I would never let him
leave the house in the morning without telling him I loved him. He
made the same promise. It got to be a joke between us, and as babies
came along it got to be a hard promise to keep. I remember running
down the driveway, saying 'I love you' through teeth clenched when I
was mad, or driving to the office to put a note in his car. It was a
funny challenge.
"We made a lot of memories trying to say 'I love you' before
noon every day of our married life.
"The morning Jim died, he left a birthday card in the kitchen
and slipped out to the car. I heard the engine starting. Oh no, you
don't buster, I thought. I raced out and banged on the car window
until he rolled it down. 'Here on my fiftieth birthday, Mr. James E.
Garret, I, Carol Garret, want to go on record as saying I love you!'
"That's how I survived. Knowing that the last words I said to
Jim were, 'I LOVE YOU!'"
--------------------------------------------------
SAY IT NOW
If you have a tender message
Or a loving word to say,
Don't wait till you forget it,
But whisper it today!
The tender words unspoken,
The letter never sent,
The long forgotten messages,
The wealth of love unspent.
For these some hearts are breaking,
For these some loved ones wait,
Then give them what they are needing,
Before it is too late!
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