Member-only story
Last Dance
His last request was my desire.
It was hard seeing the strongest man I know fade away to nothing. But in 2014, he took his last breath and was gone.
My husband was a hard worker in construction and could do anything, but his specialty was ceramic tile. He had neck surgery in 2009, and it was downhill after that.
In 2010, we found out his sister had lung cancer. When she came to see him in the hospital, I felt something was wrong with her. She was weepy about some personal, physical things and never got that way.
In 2012, Ricky decided to ride a bus down to Tampa and help his younger sister take care of the older who had cancer. While on treatment, smells were a problem for Shelly. Ricky had a smell, and Shelly picked up on it. The younger
sister sent him home cause he looked tired, but she did not smell anything on Ricky.
The younger sister Karen gave me a car, and he drove it home to Atlanta. He looked exhausted, and I smelled a horrible smell on him. I asked Karen about it, but she said she did not smell it.
Then, in 2013, he helped my oldest son move to Jacksonville. When I went to pick him up at the bus station, I knew something wasn't right. He said his throat hurt.