| Love By Her Bedside |
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| Written by Cristina |
| Friday, 14 February 2003 12:39 |
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Love is in the air ... :) ... Valentine's day is just around the corner and though many would attribute the season to another commercial gimmick, I'd like to look at it as a simple note on the calendar ... that somewhere ... somehow ... a heart would always beat for another. I was riding the bus to work one morning when the driver turned on his stereo and a timeless melody was ushered through the airwaves by a nostalgic DJ. It was a song written by Jim Brickman and Tom Douglas, brought to life in a lovely duet by Collin Raye and Susan Ashton ... There was something about "The Gift" ... I first heard the song in 1997 and there was one special part that never fails to make me smile. o"... Watching as you softly sleep o What I.d give if I could keep o Just this moment o If only time stood still o But the colors fade away o And the years will make us grey o But baby in my eyes o You.ll still be beautiful ..." I recall some years back of a television feature in Rescue 911. I was watching a couple enjoying a drive through the freeway. The voice of host William Shatner recounted every footage ... and a beautiful story unfolds. They've been together for more than 40 years and smiles have hardly left there faces. It was a quiet day when all of a sudden, a commotion! The scenes cut from one frame to another in a chaos of events. Then the next thing, one would see an accordion of vehicles and debris lined through a substantial length of the concrete path. Voices, crying. A chorus of pain and confusion. Limp, blood-stained bodies being drawn from each wreckage. Men and women in uniform running from one victim to the next. Then among the wreckage, an elderly man struggled free. Dazed by the impact and casualties that surrounded, he approached a uniformed man. The latter instantly responded at the sight of the bleeding condition, leading the victim to the nearest paramedic. But the elderly man didn't know he was bleeding ... he didn't even care. He was pulling the officer back to the wreckage. Thinking that the victim was in shock, a group of others tried to restrain him but he was obstinate. And as the uniformed man was being pulled closer to a dilapidated vehicle, this officer sensed the strength of a younger man in this elderly that he could not quite understand at first. The scene cut to a new footage and the police officer was being interviewed. He was describing that moment when he finally understood -- the elderly was uttering, "My wife ... please help my wife." The next scene was the drama of an emergency room. An elderly woman in critical condition was being rushed for surgical procedure. Earlier, her injured husband refused medical attention because he wanted to remain in the ambulance that would carry her. And amid the screaming siren of a speeding ambulance, he held her hand ... as he stayed by her bedside. Another interview. It was him. The years have truly shown the grey in this man's face, yet he looked so beautiful as he recalled each passing time he spent with her. He has loved her for more than 40 years and those have been the happiest moments of his life. He remembered how he sat so helplessly in that ambulance as he held her hand ... how he watched the doors closed in that operating room as if they were taking her away from him. Until finally, he remembered the face of a surgeon in forlorn hope. From thereon, he waited ... in that hospital, holding her hand ... never leaving her bedside. The elderly man choked a little as he held back a tear, "I could never imagine living life without her." A tear ran through my cheek as I watched him say those words. Could it be ... and then I couldn't stop crying. But the episode wasn't over. I looked at the next scene and came forth a lovely shore with a beautiful sunset. Then there was a silhouette of a loving couple ... holding hands ... having fun ... a sweet kiss at one point ... :) ... and then they hugged. And I wiped my tears away. Yes, the years have turned them grey but as the song goes ... they'll "still be beautiful ..." Maybe my memory of the details is no longer as accurate ... those were years back when I watched Rescue 911 ... even far back before I first heard of "The Gift" ... maybe those who might have seen this episode before or have actually been there in that tragic freeway incident would have remembered a different scene. But one scene doesn't change. A woman held on because LOVE stayed by her bedside. <Grin> ... if melodies could come true for many hearts ... hmmm ... it's lunch by my timezone. Happy Valentine Everybody :) |
