Love, timing and sweet anticipation

Cindy on her last vacation at Folly Beach, 1999

When my sister died in 2000, there was an obituary. There was a column written by Gerry Hostetler, who wrote in The Charlotte Observer about the life and death of ordinary people who were nevertheless special in the ways they touched others or made their mark on the world. Then there was a column written by The Observer’s Doug Robarchek, who was known best for his multiple award-winning Outfront column, which defied description so I won’t even try.

My favorite was Doug’s column, which began, ”This is a story about love and timing, sweet anticipation, death and mystical symmetry.”

Doug wanted to help me somehow after Cindy died and I asked if he would help me give away the tickets Cindy and I had just purchased for a trip to Disney World. We were to leave on Saturday; Cindy died in her sleep sometime Friday night. I wanted someone to have those tickets. Someone who wouldn’t be able to go otherwise.

So Doug wrote about it and he heard from his readers about people who should have the tickets. I chose a little boy named Joseph with a rare bone marrow disease. He needed platelet transfusions on a regular basis. There were a lot of medical bills. Joseph’s mother came by on Thanksgiving morning to pick up the tickets. After the trip, she brought me an album of photos so I could see what a how much fun her little boy had in Orlando. Joseph was an adorable five-year-old with a beautiful smile.

A few years later, I was going through the morning paper when a little boy’s face caught my eye. It was Joseph. The photo was part of his obituary. He was 10 years old.

Today, Cindy would have turned 55. And Joseph would be 15 now, full of the sweet anticipation of the day in about six months when he would be old enough for a driver’s license.

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