Rideout Memorial Hospital - Marysville, CA

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

My dear friend from my teenage days, Carmen, insisted on picking me up at the airport. Carmen and I go way back to when we were 15 years old. Her Dad and my Mom dated, that's how we met. We have kept close in touch all these years and she stayed with me in 2001 when she decided to give Washington, DC a go. She was trying to get work on the Hill when 9/11 happened and everything shut down. My mother was at my home with hospice care and Carmen was a gift from Heaven. She and my mother were very close. To have someone in my home caring for my mother besides me, that my Mom was comfortable with, had value beyond measure. It was one of those "meant to be" kind of things. I mean, for 20 years Carmen wanted to come back East and work in DC and she picks this time in our lives to finally make the trip and my mother is dying of Cancer. How amazing is that? Needless to say, we have journeyed together through some difficult moments and are forever changed by it, and hold each other in very high regard. It was comforting to have her picking me up, my dear friend.

I arrived at the hospital and as I was coming down the hallway, when one of the Powell's stepped out into the hall and saw me. I can't remember who it was, but they hollered into the room, "SHE's HERE! SHE's HERE!" With that they all came out into the hall, Marlene, Diane, Linda, Dan & Sarah and there were A LOT of tears. When I stepped into the room, Dave began to cry. I realized very profoundly at that moment, the stress, tension and burden that my dear friends were all carrying. It was very heavy on them. I had no idea, but of course, they probably didn't fully realize it either until the hat was passed off. The relief.

Marlene and my mother were best friends in a group of very close SR-71 wives. Her husband Bob was also a U2 pilot before coming to Beale. I went to school with Dan, he was my "obnoxious adopted brother" and Diane and I were great friends, while Linda and my sister Lynn, have been best friends forever. They had taken on the role of taking care of Dave, like "family" friends do. Dave was never left alone the entire time from his trip to the hospital, until I arrived. Before my arrival they were stoic, strong, calm and doing everything they could to keep Dave on an emotional even keel. They were in a word, "amazing." Diane, had worked at Rideout Hospital and so did a good job of making sure everyone knew who Dave was and that I knew he was getting good care. She was invaluable. I think they all went home and slept for 3 days after I got there. Can't say I blame them.

After a bit, we decided Carmen would take me back to Dan & Sarah's, I would change clothes, get something to eat, and get Dave's car. Suddenly I'm in my "home town" after over 30 years, running back and forth from Yuba City to Marysville, seeing some familiar things along the way as I'm racing back to the hospital.

We desperately need to call his parents...