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Monday May 12,2008

Dreams Laid to Rest

by Judianne

My journey began nineteen years ago when I met the man of my dreams. Mike and I combined our families to create a total of eight children. Carey, 16; Jeff, 15; Angie, 12; and Derek, 9 were Mike's children. Susan, 11; Jenny, 10; Kimmie, 8; and Mandy, 1-1/2 were my children. With the exception of normal sibling rivalry, we were one big, happy family. Mike moved to Illinois from South Carolina to be with me. Our children took turns living with both parents but we had five or six children with us at all times.

During the work week, we attended school functions and studied with the children to help them with homework. On free evenings, we went to the swimming hole, played UNO, and stood in line for motorcycle rides with Mike. On weekends, we were taught by Mike how to frog gig, set turtle hooks, and build campfires. In the winter months, we made snow cream, held snowmen contests, and chopped wood. It was a fairy tale life.

In the fall of 1985, Jeff and Carey moved back to South Carolina with their mother. By the end of spring in 1986, Jeff wanted to move back to Illinois with us but desired to make one more trip to Myrtle Beach. He went there with two girls and had a wonderful time. In the meantime, our home in Illinois burned to the ground while we were visiting my mother about 100 miles away. We went to see the smoldering remains and took some pictures. That evening, upon returning to my mother's home, we were met in the driveway by a friend. He told us that Jeff had been in a wreck in South Carolina and died. We only thought we had lost everything in the fire. Our lives were forever changed at that moment. My mother made a few calls and we had money, clothes, and her car keys. We went to South Carolina to see our precious son. His slender, handsome, young body was so swollen that a picture was put in the casket. It has been almost seventeen years and that memory is as vivid as if I were standing there looking at him. Mike had an acute heart attack about four years later and had a triple bypass at the age of 46.

With much support from family and friends and trust in God, we were able to move on with life and cherish even more the ones we had left. Thanksgiving was a time when we practiced what we preached. The turkeys were thawed and ready for the smoker on Wednesday in 1996. The call came in that Derek had fallen from a second story railing and we needed to get to South Carolina quickly. We arrived there on Thanksgiving morning and watched him jerk in an coma