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THIS IS US
Our Last Date
Saying goodbye to the best person I’ve ever known
She asked if we could have just one more “day” date. It’s all she wanted. Well, that, and a big ole tub of movie theater popcorn. And a large fountain Coke. And a selfie. That’s all. So that’s what she got. Two years ago today was our last date, and the last selfie with just the two of us. And her big ole tub of popcorn.
We still had more days. Nineteen days to be exact. But if I remember correctly, this was the last time that it was just the two of us in that room. If you knew Rachel and you knew her story, you’d know that her hospital room was never empty. And more often than not, it was actually kind of crowded. People just wanted to be near her and that was so good for her heart. So that’s what we allowed. We allowed people. All the time. Visiting hours were ignored in her room. You just came and went as you pleased. And if you had the chance to come, you were one of the lucky ones. And I think it’s safe to say that once you left that room, you looked at life a little bit differently going forward.
But for a few hours, on this day, two years ago, it was just the two of us. And her popcorn. We talked about so many things. All the things. The things that you’d never imagine talking about with someone you’d planned to spend the rest of your life with, only to realize the rest of one of your lives was about to be over.
So we talked. We talked about the kids. So much about the kids. We talked about what things will look like when she’s gone. We talked about the future that we thought we were going to have. We talked about Heaven and how incredible that will be. We talked about the 10 years that I chased her and the almost 10 years we had together. We talked about all of the things we would have done differently if we’d known what we knew at that moment.
I apologized to her for not doing more. For not finding the solution. For not fixing this. For allowing this to happen to her. And with a mouth full of popcorn she assured me that no one could have ever fought harder for her than I did. And that I wasn’t allowed to ever think that again. So I haven’t. Because I promised her that I wouldn’t.
