Chapter 5 – Disaster

Because Peggy didn't know when she'd be home, she'd made arrangements for the
girls to stay at friends' houses and I'd pick them up when I got home. I had
just got in the door when the phone rang. When I answered I discovered it was
the hospital calling to say that Peggy had been in a serious car accident and
that I should come to the hospital as soon as I could. I was glad we'd become
friends with the neighbours as I was able to ask them to pick up the girls and
look after them until I could get back. They gladly agreed and I gave them a
key to the house in case the girls needed something. That was a good thing as
it turned out.

I rushed to the hospital and discovered that Peggy had been going through an
intersection and another driver had driven through the red light at full speed
and hit the car on the driver's side. The force of the impact was so severe
that the car was almost torn in half. The doctors told me that Peggy was in a
very critical state and when asked, said her prognosis was not good. I waited
and waited and periodically asked about Peggy's condition. Finally they moved
Peggy out of the OR and into intensive care and I was able to see her. I was
horrified at what I saw and the realization struck me that I might lose Peggy.
I stayed at the hospital, only going home periodically to clean up and change
clothes. On one of these trips I decided I'd better talk to the girls and
explain the situation.

As I said, it was a good thing that I'd given Fred and Joyce the key to the
house since it was now 3 days since the accident. They told me to not worry,
to do what I needed and that they'd look after the girls. They'd already been
checking the mail and picking up the flyers that came to the house. I'd called
work and both my parents and Peggy's dad and now there was nothing to do but
wait. Two days later as I sat beside Peggy, holding her hand, she died. At
that moment it was as if a light had been turned off inside me. My beloved
Peggy was gone.

I went back and gathered the girls and took them home. My parents arrived the
next morning and took charge of making arrangements for Peggy's funeral. I was
operating on only 2 of 8 cylinders and was only just functioning. After a week
or so, Mom asked if I wanted them to take the girls to their house. I thought
about it but as I looked at things I realized that it wouldn't work. They
lived in a one bedroom condo so the girls would be camping on the floor and
how would the girls be able to carry on their schooling? It thanked mom and
dad for the offer and explained why I was turning it down and they understood.

As mom and dad and Peggy's dad go ready to leave I realized that I had to pull
myself together and start to function properly. I got the girls together in
the living room and tried to explain what was going to happen. The girls
understood that many of the things that their mom had done for them would have
to be done by themselves or by me. Peggy had managed the house and looked
after all that that entailed. I hardly knew where to begin. The first item on
the agenda was groceries and Tara was wonderful in helping me figure out what
we needed and helped pick out the right things in the store. I'd not even
thought about it until one evening I saw Tara and Ashley with arms of clothes
going to the laundry room. Tara had watched and helped her mom often enough
that she knew what to do. As time went by we manage to keep things going,
sometimes with minor disasters but mainly reasonably smoothly. I was back at
work and had a tremendous amount of sympathy and offers of help from
co-workers. The girls were good at helping keep things going but even with all
the help and support I soon found myself going to pieces as I thought about
Peggy and our life. Many a night I would lie in bed – our bed – and cry myself
to sleep only to wake up in the middle of the night and do it all over again.
One night things changed.