Two years ago I thought my life was near perfect. At that time Patty, my wife of five years, was six months pregnant and we were both very excited about the coming event. I had a good job with a large electronics firm in San Jose and Patty was enjoying her job at a day care center. On top of that we were shopping for our first house. Then, without warning our happy life was turned upside down.
First the company I worked for was bought by a large corporation which immediately reorganized our company which really means they fired the old management staff. So here I was out of work and my wife pregnant.
Luckily I had managed to save quite a bit of money, for the purchase of our house, and the severance package I was given was quite generous. That meant we would be all right financially until I could find a new job, but we would have to put off the purchase of a house indefinitely.
While Patty and I were dealing with these problems the next test of our ability to cope was thrown at us. While I was out on job interviews I got a call from Patty. As soon as I answered I could tell something was wrong. I could hear it in her voice when she asked, "Can you come get me right now?"
I asked her what the problem was and she said, "Something is terribly wrong with me. I just went to the bathroom I found blood in my panties."
I immediately drove over to the day care center where Patty worked and took her to the emergency room. Two hours later the doctor told me that they had to take the baby and it was still born. It was left up to me to tell the woman I loved that she lost her baby. That was the hardest thing I have ever done.
They kept Patty at the hospital overnight as a precaution and I brought her home the next morning. We were very awkward together. Neither of us seemed to know what to say. I felt terrible, not only because of our loss but also because I knew how much Patty wanted to have a baby. I needed to talk to her about it but I didn't know how.
Over the next several weeks Patty got stronger and was able to resume her normal activities and she returned to work but there was something between us. We didn't talk about our loss, but it was there with us almost like a living entity. I so much wanted to hold and love Patty but she seemed too fragile and I guessed she needed more time before she would be ready to be intimate. I wanted to talk to her about it and let her know I was there for her whenever she needed me but I never felt it was the right time for that conversation.
Six months after we lost the baby Patty made an unexpected announcement to me. She said, "I want to get out of here."
I said, "You want to go away for the weekend?"
She said "No. I want to leave San Jose. This doesn't feel like home to me any more."
"Where would we go?"
"Anywhere. Just away from here."
I thought that she might be right. We might both be happier starting over somewhere else. I began looking in trade magazines for job opportunities in other cities. After several days of searching I saw an ad the caught my attention. It was an ad for the sale of an electronics store in the Atlanta area.
The idea of running my own business appealed to me so I sat down with Patty and we talked it over. Patty said she thought it might be a good move for both of us. So, three days later I was on a plane to Atlanta. I spent four days negotiating with the owner and we agreed on a price for his store and the current inventory. Then I went to a bank and applied for a small business loan. A week later the bank notified me that my loan was approved and a month later Patty and I moved to Atlanta.
The cost of housing in Atlanta was so much lower than in San Jose that we were able to buy a house in a very nice neighborhood north of Atlanta. The day we moved in several of the neighbors stopped by to welcome us. I could see this had a very positive effect on Patty. One of the people we met that day was George. George was a tall, distinguished man with silver streaks in his otherwise dark hair. He looked to be in his mid fifties. As it turned out George was actually almost sixty. George had such a warm and friendly personality that you couldn't help but like him. As he walked in the open front door of our house he said, "Hello, I'm George Lewis and I guess that you are Willard and Patty Bradley."
I said, "Yes we are and it's nice to meet you," as we shook hands. Then I added, "But my friends call me Will."
We had a nice friendly conversation during which I asked George what he did for a living and he said, " I retired from a large technology company five years ago. Now I work at the day care center just up the street from here.
I asked George, "How long have you been working at the day care center?"