A Lifetime of Love

When I was 28, I worked for the Government at NAS North Island.  I had worked there from the age of 21.  I had had my share of problems with my health and had been off work off and on for the last 2 years when I met Jack.  He came to work in our office in February or March of 1975 and when I first saw him I thought he was from the Data Processing Department and was there to give us an update on our computers or something of that nature.  Then I found out he was going to work there.  I was never introduced to him, and I had a hard time just keeping my boss happy, so I went about my job in the usual way.  Then one day, my friend Linda whispered to me that she thought the new guy liked me.  I asked her what gave her that idea, and she said that he was always watching me and smiling when I wasn't looking.  I was surprised to say the least.  Then one day we started talking and the lunch wagon showed up.  I started to go outside to get lunch and he threw his coat over my head.  I took it off and started to hand it back to him and he said "It's raining".  That was the first thing that got my attention.  Working at the warehouse with all those men, I am sure no one else had ever given a second thought to me getting rained on and couldn't have cared less.  I began talking to him more, and he gave me advice on how to handle the work load that was always dumped on me.  I had worked there for quite a while but I had never heard the things he was telling me, and I began to put them into practice.  It was fun!  I was able to get their goat instead of them always dumping the work on me and harrassing me to hurry up and get it done!

That was the beginning of our relationship.  He helped me tremendously, and one day he gave me his phone number to call him if I wanted to talk.  One Friday evening after I got to my apartment after work, I thought to myself, why sit here all alone. . .I think I'll call Jack and see if I can go visit him for a while.  He said yes and gave me instructions on how to get to his place and I went on over to see him.  When I got there, he was doing dishes and listening to Led Zepplin.  He invited me in and we listened to the music and sat on the floor and talked for hours.  When I got ready to go home, he walked me to my car and touched my shoulder and said, "Sometimes all you need is a friend".  And what a friend he has been all these years! 

We started going out and hanging around together all the time at work and after work and in July he asked me to move in.  On the 16th of July, he said we should get married and have a baby!  I was shocked because I had felt too old to ever meet anyone, fall in love or have children.  I thought life had passed me by.  I went in after break and told Linda what had happened.  I cried in the women's bathroom and they were tears of happiness and surprise. 

He posted our engagement in the paper and we went to his Mom's house to tell her about it.  We had a small celebration party and I was the happiest girl in the world.  I was having so much fun and he took me to places I didn't know existed.  One night he asked me if I wanted to go see KISS and I said yes, not knowing a thing about them.  I had the time of my life and couldn't take my eyes off them.  I stood up for the whole concert and had the time of my life!  On the way home it was all I talked about.  I think he sort of smiled knowing I was a country bumpkin who had never seen anything like that!  We always had fun together and we didn't particularly care if other people liked it or not!

In December on my birthday, the 24th, we tied the knot at my parent's house in Chula Vista.  It was a beautiful day, hot, sunny and so still.  Like all the world was watching.  Then we left to begin our lives together, and that night we went for a drive and everything was decorated for Christmas and it seemed like it was all to celebrate our union.  I was then, and am now, one of the happiest people on the planet.  He has been such a blessing to me.  He has been there through a difficult birth and raising 3 kids while we both worked.  He has been there through medical problems, the death of my parents and grandmother, and through many financial problems, and personal problems.  He is right now working at a job he's not particularly happy with, so I can be retired.  He always puts me first, always loves me, always gives his all and  today we have 3 grown children, 7 grandchildren, a home that's really a home.  We have given our all to each other and even though we don't have a huge bank account or live in a mansion, we have the strong love and support of a loving family and each other.

I have had problems that would have driven most men away, but not Jack.  He stays and gives his support, love and devotion and helps me every day to celebrate a life that was a gift from God.  I love this man more every day if that's possible, and I know in the great beyond, we will still be loving one another and sharing what God has planned for us until that day arrives when we say goodnight for a short while.  But we will be reunited in the great beyond and I just want the world to know what a lucky lady I am and how devoted I am to this wonderful person.  He has always made me feel young and today I hae to say I still feel young even though I am 64.

Thank you Jack for all you have done for me.  I love everything about you and I love the life we have together.  I will love you for all eternity and look back over the years with a full heart and a mind that is at peace forever more.  That poem I wrote asking life not to pass me by, well you are the direct answer to that call from my heart to life itself.  You are the answer to all my dreams and hopes and you have always been a friend to me even in the darkest hours of my life.  I don't think anyone else could have done for me what you have done, and I hope the love I have for you fills your heart to overflowing and you can forget about the loneliness and isolation you knew as a child and even the despair and discouragement you found in life before you met me.  I hope I have replaced all those memories with love in abundance.  We all love you, me most of all and I wish for you all the happiness and fulfillment you need in life.  You deserve all the good things that life has to give, and our family is my gift to you too, as well as from you to me.  We were meant to be together and I am glad you see me through the eyes of love.  That is the only true picture of a person. . .when seen with the heart and the eyes of love, everyone is beautiful and important.  All life is sacred as you taught me.  And you have shown me through all the years how sacred you hold my life.  Thank you my darlin' for showing me life in all it's beauty, and for sharing your life with me.

Love you forever,
Bonzo

Life Is Precious - Take Nothing for Granted

I have heart disease and had a heart attack at 43 years of age.  That was back in 1991.  At that time I had 7 blockages in my heart.  Part of my heart was severely damaged and my doctor at the time said the worst one was 70 percent occluded.  He said if it got to 90 percent they would have to do open heart surgery.  I changed my eating habits, and within a month I was back to work.  We stopped eating hot dogs, bacon, pizza, the wrong kinds of oils and started replacing things with fish and chicken and salmon and lots of veggies and we all are still here. 

Yesterday I saw my new Cardiologist and she gave me a diet to reduce the fat in my blood, or my triglycerides.  She asked a million questions and really listened when I answered her.  She really took an interest.  Instead of telling me my foot was swollen, which I am aware of, she told me if I could lose even 10 lbs I could reduce one of my meds and some of the swelling would go down.  Nobody bothered to tell me that until yesterday.  I am a good cook, I like to eat, and dieting is something I have tried to do all my life.  After my heart attack, I changed to Healthy Choice Dinners and my husband spent hours in the kitchen making special food for us.  We all ate the same things pretty much as a family.  The kid were young when it happened.  Our twins were 13 and our daughter was 11.  It scared them and they were on their good behavior when I went home.  I was in ICU for 4 or 5 days and in DOU for 7 more.  Then I was taken to Scripps Hospital in La Jolla for an angiogram.  The next day I went home.   I received excellent care and I am still here 20 years later. 

I am on the long road to health, but I will make it.  I am very motivated now, because this person took time to talk to me and took an interest in my care.  I will exercise on the elliptical until I feel I can walk briskly on a treadmill for 10 minutes and complete an ultrasound which will show if the 7 blockages are gone as my previous doctor told me they were.  They didn't show up on the last stress test...they couldn't tell if there were blockages or not, but he told me they were all gone.  He was getting ready to retire and I guess just didn't want to be bothered.  Whatever his reason for that bit of information I can't really say, but I really like my new doctor and feel I will make a new life for myself and my family. 

It's never too late to start anew.  Remember you are important enough to take good care of yourself.  Life is good. You can start fresh and have a great life.  You have to want it bad enough to work for it, but the rewards are over the top!