Since Jeff's death, I have raised my four children as a single mother. I put on a good show at Christmas Time for their sake. Hidden away in my closet, packed in sealed garment bags, preserved with moth balls, were all my sexy outfits. Hidden from them was my depression, my loneliness, my wishing that Jeff was still there with me. I had always felt that Jeff and I would grow old together, spending our golden years sitting on our porch in his and her rocking chairs, but a construction site crane malfunctioned and robbed me of all those dreams. Widowed at 35, with nothing to look forward to in my golden years except sitting all alone in a rocker while the grand kids played at my feet. As Christmas Eve 2011 approached and my depression threatened to consume me, little did I suspect that my oldest son saw right through the happy facade I erected year after year.
Jeff and I had wanted a big family of our own, just like the families that we both came from, but that wasn't in the cards for us either. Randy was born two years after we married, but then ten years would elapse before I became pregnant again with Tom. After Tom was born, three years passed before Sara was born and then another two years before Cindy was born. The truth is that I really don't think that I could have managed without Jeff if it hadn't been for Randy who, at the ripe old age of fifteen, stepped up and became a father figure for his very young siblings.
As Christmas Eve 2011 approached I was very aware of all the sacrifices that Randy had made for his family. An honor student with the promise of a full scholarship to the engineering school of his choice, he chose to take a job as an auto mechanic after he graduated in June of 2010. Pooling his income with what I brought home as a private duty nurse, we managed to live comfortably. Jeff insurance was enough to pay off our home and most of our other debts. I was very aware of his willing sacrifices and wanted to make Christmas 2011 a special Christmas for him. I would have taken out a new mortgage on our farm to do that, but my father in-law stepped up, stepped in and bought Randy the car of his dreams, a 1977 Corvette Sting Ray Coup. My father in-law could afford it. He owns a very successful NASCAR racing team that you would recognize if I were to mention the team's name.
The car was sitting in our drive when I got up on Christmas Eve Day morning.
… .....
I was walking out of the bathroom, wrapped in a bath towel when Randy came tearing down the hall toward me.
“Whose car's that in the drive?”
We would have made an interesting site if any of the kids came into the hall right then. Me wrapped in a towel that barely covered the essentials that needed covering and Randy in his boxer shorts.