Magazine Article Writing

“…Until death do us part.” When Leanne stood at the altar with her groom and repeated those words after the minister, she did not think about what they meant. If she had, the word that would have mattered was “until”; a word describing a time full of promise and possibilities. Parting was inconceivable and death was such a remote concept, it was not worth considering.

Nearly thirty-one years after their wedding day, death still seemed just as remote. It never occurred to her, taking him to an appointment at Tanana Valley Clinic to seek treatment for a sinus infection, that he wasn’t ever coming home. Fifteen days later, death parted them. Hiding behind the persistent sinus infection had been an aggressive T-cell lymphoma, silently destroying his body.

Leanne was alone for the first time in her adult life. Yes, she had her children and their spouses. There was a granddaughter and another grandchild on the way. She was surrounded by a rock-solid support system of friends and family. But, in the ways that mattered most, she was overwhelmingly alone. That sense of being inexorably connected to another person was gone. Decisions that needed to be made were now solely her responsibility. The one who had kept her grounded, provided her with a feeling of safety and security, and shared every truly significant moment in her life, was no longer there.

In the days that followed her husband’s death, Leanne lived life by rote. Things got done because they needed to be done. She kept a positive attitude because there was nothing to be gained by falling apart. Her friends said she was strong, but she didn’t understand why. She wasn’t strong; she just was.

The protective layer of shock wore off as time turned days into weeks and then into months. Numbness gave way to feeling again, and a growing awareness took place. Leanne began to understand that she had depended on her husband, but she had not been dependent upon him. Who they had been as a couple was an exquisite melding of who they each were as people, and she is still that same person. The man she loved is dead. That ache will never completely go away. But she is alive and so she will live; truly, fully, richly live.