Cara, My Love... My Wife... My Best Friend...
I knew she was special the moment I saw her back at the old C.O.M.B. Company when she was first hired.
There was just something about her. Those eyes, those big beautiful eyes.
I wrote her a note that first day, asking her to go out with me. She turned me down, "I don’t date people I
work with." She said.
Well, that’s that, I thought.
Then they moved her right next to me.
I took that as a sign.
We began to talk, to get to know each other. I was still going through a divorce at the time, but I got her up to saying,
she would go out with me... after it was finalized.
I was getting close...
You see I could picture us together walking down a country road hand in hand, with my dog Luke. Maybe it was the road
of life I was picturing, I don’t know, but I knew she was special, so...
She had been seeing some other guy, some guy who worked at a store in Wayzata. Someone told her something he had said
about her. "Nice girl, but she gets serious to fast."
Boy, was she mad at that.
I took my cue and made my move. I told her we could get a friend I use to work for, to deliver a bouquet of dead roses,
with just an unsigned note.
She Loved the idea, she did it, and he got madder then heck, but couldn’t find out who sent the note.
And I got my date.
That was 19 years ago. I have been with her ever since. She became the Bright Light of my Life. I was always better when
she was close.
During a trip in 1985 to England with my friend Philip, I did a lot of thinking... I decided Pretty much right there
and then that I wanted to Marry Her. I proposed on October 4, 1985 after a night out, while we watched the Tonight Show. I
didn’t pop the question at the Restaurant because I was afraid of what would happen if she said no.
I really didn’t have to worry. She Said Yes.
We were Married June 28, 1986. And she was the most Beautiful Bride I have ever seen. Over the years, it always made
me proud, every time she said to anyone, My Name is, Cara Olson...
We’ve had great times together.
And we’ve had some bad times.
But through it all we Loved each other.
We had our ups and downs like any couple. But we worked them out. I stood by her no matter what. When I had to, I woke
up and refocused my life around her and Matthew, much more then I had been. I gave up my own dreams and ambitions. Nothing
mattered to me but that I made her as happy as I could.
Before her fall, we had wonderful times together.
But even after it, we manage to pick out some special moments and have fun and enjoy life together. A couple of trips
to Mexico, the first of which resulted in Matthew. I swear it was in the Water... of course Matthew’s Birth and watching
him grow, The State Fair, a couple of Houseboat trips, trips to California, a concert once in a while. 5th row at Neil Diamond.
A long weekend road trip to Sault St. Marie to see Rick Springfield at a Casino.
As the years passed and the pain continued and the depression got worse, it was harder to find those special moments.
One of them came when we went to California and especially Disneyland.
We went there twice with Matthew, and I especially remember the second time, as soon as she stepped in to the Magic Kingdom,
it was like a weight lifted off her shoulders. She was a kid again, enjoying everything we did, smiling and laughing, going
on as many rides as we could squeeze in.
One thing she really enjoyed was the music of Rick Springfield. Over the last few years, she went to
many of his shows. Sometimes with me, sometimes with friends or even by herself. When I went, I was the official Photographer,
I got some Great Pictures too. She Loved his music. And found others on the Internet that shared her love of the man and his
music.
We also found faith in the Lord to be of great help too.
When the pain and the depression got to bad, we prayed together. We held each other in the knowledge that we were not
alone. I always said, "The Lord will get us through this." Even that last afternoon together.
I won’t pretend she was perfect. She wasn’t. She had her faults. But to me, it didn’t matter. I Loved
Her.
She kept a messy bathroom, just setting something down, no matter where and leaving it. I forgave her, and Loved
Her.
She made piles of papers and mail that she was going to get to. When it got to bad for me, I just straighten it up and
told where to look when she wanted to find something. I forgave her, and Loved Her.
She turned our lower family room into a giant closet for her clothes. I forgave her, and still Loved her.
After all, we never did have that much company anyway.
She was stubborn. She was a fighter. When she wanted something it was all anyone could do to keep her from getting it.
This however, frustrated the Doctors who were trying to treat her to no end. It also frustrated her. But I still Loved
Her and Stood By Her.
One thing I wanted to have her do sometime, was watch the Movie "Titanic" with me. But she had heard
"That" song from the Movie so many times on the radio when it first came out, that she wanted nothing to do with
it.
I could understand that, but I told her, if she’d just watch it and forget about the song, she’d really like
it. But I never got her to sit down and watch it with me.
Until the other night. Five nights after she passed away in fact.
I decided that I was going to watch it, to take my mind off things. Matthew even came into the living room and watched
it with me for a while, but he fell a sleep. Somewhere, about an hour or so in, I looked over at her picture and said, "See
I told you, you’d like it."
From then on, until the end of the Movie and all through "That" song, I seemed to hear her voice in my head,
reacting to what was happening. I know it sounds strange, but to me, we were finally watching "Titanic" together.
And She Liked it...
I felt her with me all through the film, right there wondering what was going to happen next. Even crying a little toward
the end, but I said, "Just keep watching." She even seemed to be hurrying me to get back to it, when I had to stop
the movie to do something.
And that Movie tells me something... that like the characters Rose and Jack, even though we have to
part for now and our life together on this earth is over, at some point, when it’s time, we will be together again.
In each others arms again. And Loving each other again.
Cara was my reason for living, the reason I have done everything I have done. And it wasn’t only
my giving to her, she gave to me. She was there when I needed her, to offer a shoulder to cry on, to give me advice, to help
me when I was down. She would bring me up.
It’s funny, but it was very rare for us to both be hurting at the same time. It seemed that if one was down, the
other was up enough to help.
I even seem to hear Her in the last few days telling Me, "Everything is going to be all right. Don’t worry."
I don’t know what will happen to Matthew and I in the future. But I do know one thing.
I will Never Love someone as much as I Loved Cara. And No one will ever Love Me as much as she.
The Bright Light of my Life has gone out.
But there is a smaller light shining through the darkness, small and calling, "Daddy," His name is Matthew.
Part of Cara is really still here with us, in Matthew. She Loved him and was proud of him and so Am
I.
We will both miss his Mother terribly. But I have him to remind me she will never really die. Her
heart will go on, through him.
She was special, right from the start.
She was my Wife, My Lover, My Best Friend.
I am proud to have been Her Husband.
I am a better person for having known Her.
She Made me Happy, just by being Her and letting me be a part of Her Life.
Cara, I Love You...
I always have...
And
I always will...
