Submitted by Judy 2/9/10
My story starts last Feb when an old friend from 35 years ago found me through my sister’s classmates site. We emailed for a few times then on Valentine’s Day he called for the first time.
Keith lived in S. Jersey and I here in Baltiimore. We finally met up May 16th last year when I drove up for the day. As I tell Keith, he had me from the first hug (as there was already pre-chemistry before we met).
As I said it had been 35 yrs since we had seen each other, so we had a lot of catching up to do.
I was recently divorced after a 28 year marraige and 7 kids. He had also been married and in another relationship that each produced a child.
Where my courage comes in is the rest of the story.
We spent the whole day together and decided to go forward with our relationship. Prior to meeting up again, I found out some things about Keith, he had been living a pretty “wild” life up to this time. He had spent time in prison and had been involved with drugs and alcohol for most of his life.
He was finally at a point of change and asked God to send him a “Christian” woman. I have been living a life of faith in God since I was 19, so it appears I was the answer to that prayer. So, I fell “in love” with Keith.
Back in June of 2008, Keith was hit by a car driven by a drunk driver, so the doctors gave him Percoset for the pain.
Here was the battle or one of them. He was addicted to the Percoset. He was also a smoker. I hate cigarettes, I did smoke as a teen but can’t stand them.
He said his desire was to get off of everything and start living for God, to redeem the time if you will.
A little over 2 weeks into our relationship, Keith got sick, he had an obstructed bowel and subsequent surgery, where they discovered a mass in his colon, diagnosed as probable colon cancer. After removal of the obstruction he then had an illiostomy bag.
So our summer consisted of dealing with it. In spite of all these issues or love continued to grow. I told him if we can get through this I think we can get through anything. All the while he was still addicted to the drug.
Finally on Sept 4th (the day before my 52nd birthday) Keith had surgery to remove the bag and the mass and reattach everything. Keith did not think he was going to survive, but thank God he did. So then we were on the road to recovery.
He has recovered from the surgery and is now as I type in the inpatient rehab up at the VA hospital in Perry Point, MD.He went through a 10 week outpatient program on suboxone. He quit smoking about 26 days ago.
You see Margie on July 4th, Keith asked me to marry him. I said yes.
I told him I would not marry a drug addict, smoker.
We would like to be married some time this spring so the “plan” is moving along.
It has been a test of my faith, as I believe there is a “bigger” picture here. I believe we will have the opportunity to help and even change many people’s lives.
I believe we go through something like this for a reason.
So this is where we are, hopefully the snow will be cleared away enough so I can drive up to see him on Valentine’s Day.
Thanks for letting me share.
I believe the saying what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.
God bless and thanks for your encouraging words.
Submitted by Judy 2/9/10
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