The man I married is a warrior. He grew up in a very stable home, with some very amazing influences. His father is Hispanic and a firm believer in "taking care of his own". My hubby grew up with his grandparents living with them for most of his life because of his father's beliefs. I believe this gave my husband some very good examples to follow and some good, strong foundations.
My hubby and I met through a mutual friend who set us up, unbeknownst to us both. Within five minutes of meeting him, I said to myself, "I'm going to marry this man." Nearly four and a half years later, I did.
In March of 1994, I was sitting at home, waiting for my hubby to get home from work. He was working in the oil fields and it had been raining for several weeks, leaving him without work. We were flat broke and this particular day, we had received a very small check and had plans to go out for burgers for dinner. As I waited and watched, my hubby's older brother drove up. This was extremely unusual. He had never even been to our house before. As he walked towards the door, I could tell by the look on his face something was terribly wrong.
I opened the door and could tell right away that he had been crying. "There's been an accident" is all he could say before I started asking questions. My hubby had ben in some sort of an explosion on the oil rig and was being flown to the hospital. We needed to go and we needed to do it now.
The details were so sketchy about what had happened and when but by the time we got to the hospital, my hubby was already bandaged up and waiting for the helicopter to take him to the Burn Center. I walked into the trauma room they had him in and he tried to smile at me. He couldn't speak because of the tubes they had in his mouth but he was mouthing the words, "I'm sorry". That was just like him, too. Always thinking about me and how I feel.
The burn center my hubby was being sent to was nearly 150 miles away. I decided right then that I needed to be with him. Penniless and without transportation, I started trying to figure out a way to pull this off. ZI called a few friends and asked my friend at the time if he would drive me to the burn center and possibly stay with me. He agreed and after some generous donations from our friends, we set off to face the unknown.
My hubby had been in the center of a fireball that was caused by a backfire that triggered an explosion. He was burned over 65% of his body. 87% of that area was third degree burns, the remaining 13%, second degree burns. He was faced with six very long weeks of hospitalization. He underwent many surgeries and alot of therapy. I spent the entire six weeks by his bedside, trying to help ease his pain and mind in anyway I could. With love, very skilled surgeons, and lots of prayer, May 1st, 1994, we returned home.
The road hasn't been easy for my hubby since his accident. He's had physical therapy, a few minor surgeries and alot of mental anguish. But through it all, he's been strong and been a survivor. He is definitely my hero.
On November 28, 1994, we made it legal! I married my best friend, my love, my hero.
