A Life Lost

As I walked in to the frigid, ugly hospital room, it took all I had to keep back the tears of hurt when I saw the love of my life lying in a cold, uncomfortable, metal-framed hospital bed. While my husband was peacefully sleeping, I tried to keep my mind off of what I knew was about to happen. I started cleaning up his room and noticed that he didn't eat the bowl of fruit on the night stand beside his bed, and he had only taken a few sips from his glass of water. I knew he was not going to be around for very much longer, so I sat in the hardback chair in the room and held his hand close to my heart. The small clock radio on the night stand was on and it started to play "I'll Never Love This Way Again" by Dionne Warwick, the song that my husband and I had our first dance to. As I sat there with him, listening to our song, I burst into tears because it hit me that the man who stood by my side all my life and who loved me undconditionally, who was the father of my children and who made me smile when I was down, was going to be gone forever. I grabbed the box of Kleenex and noticed the painting on the wall of cows standing in a grassy field behind the melancholy blue sky. I walked over to open the window, and as I opened it a cool breeze came through and I saw the sun setting behing the blue mountains. I looked out and saw a young couple, that looked very much in love and it reminded me of my husband and I 30 years ago. I heard my husband rolling around, so I went to make sure he was ok. As he looked me in the eyes, all I could do was cry. He held my hand and told me he loved me as he then took his last breath.