Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Renee's Victor....

The weekend of May 22nd was spent up in Pittsburgh, PA. I had never been to Pittsburgh before and quite honestly would of gladly missed visiting the city, since it was under horrible circumstances.

You all know my sister Renee, my oldest sister, and the one who so galantly battled Stage 3B Cervical Cancer four years ago, and won. Well, one year ago she met a man named Victor and fell in love. My other sister Georgia, dh Brian and I had the honor of meeting Victor last September in Dayton, Ohio at a Diana Gabaldon signing. Scotty (old Scotty, not the brother) and I drove up to Dayton for the signing, and instead of waiting for the long line of readers to get their books signed,S cotty, Renee,Victor and myself went for a drink to pass time and get to know each other.

Georgia, Will, Will's Mom, and Brian all drove up later and we all met for dinner. Renee would always talk about the romantic things Victor would say to her, and I had made Victor a little journal, so he could remind Renee of his kind words, to welcome him into the family. Renee said Victor was a manly man, so of course I made his journal as pink and feminine as I could!

You might remember the blog post...
http://m-another-m.blogspot.com/2009/09/last-week.html


When you met them you would of thought they had been together forever, their mannerisms, their ease and comfort with each other all spelled out... OLD FART COUPLE!

Renee's Victor had a fatal heart attack on May 21st. Renee had made an unexpected trip to Pittsburgh that weekend, only to be the one that had to call 911 and perform CPR on her fiance, before he was led away in an ambulance. She was thankful she was there, since who knows when someone would of found him otherwise.

I usually dread the calls in the middle of the night, but this call from Renee came Saturday morning at around 9 a.m. Brian and I were just about to leave for Chicago to visit his Mom, who had broken her ankle and is in a rehab facility. Instead, Brian still went to visit his mom, and I headed to Pittsburgh to be with Renee since no one was with her.

When I heard about Victor, the saddest thing for me wasn't his death, but Renee with all Renee has been through, she now had to go through this tragedy. She really really loved this man... correction... loves this man. Victor was a mushy guy, he said mushy things all the time, hence the journal mentioned above. She would call him her "Hallmark Card".

That Saturday night, she was listening to a condolence message from a friend, but Victor's messages played first on her phone, all sounding a bit like this...

"Hello Love of my life, I'm just calling to say I was thinking about you."

When I first met him, his first words to me were, "I've been waiting forty years for your sister." Victor had just turned 60 in May.

Renee was in the process of moving to Pittsburgh, she was just waiting to get a job there and make the big final move. They had planned to marry when she moved to there for good, so Sunday and Monday were spent getting her things together she had already moved there to bring back home to Chicago.

I could only stay till Wednesday, I ran out of meds, and clothes, and home was calling. I stayed the first two hours at the wake, and left Renee in custody of some of Victor's good friends.

Victor had three other loves of his life, his three Golden Retrievers, who thankfully have gone to another home all together, but without their master.



Renee had only a year with Victor. Renee lost her love in the Honeymoon phase of their relationship, so Renee's memories are only of good and happy times with her soul mate.

If only the rest of us could say the same thing.

God Speed Victor!

3 comments:

debg said...

What a sweet man! Rest in peace, Victor, and big hugs for Renee.

Tonya said...

First, my belated condolences about Victor. To have that kind of love, even if only for a year is truly a blessing.
I actually came across your blog while looking for headboard ideas. Yours inspired me! I'm starting mine tomorrow but in white. Do you have any finished pics?
Merry Christmas!

Tonya said...

ohh, maybe if I looked at the next month. ;)

 

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