He Never Stopped Loving Her

I know that sounds like a country song, but it's so true of my uncle Roger and his ex-wife Karen. Karen is still Aunt Karen to me even though they divorced over 25 years ago.

Uncle Roger and his family were really the only extended family I grew up around at all. Even then, after age 12 or so, I really didn't see much of Uncle Roger and his family. Circumstances just didn't allow for it.

Roger and Karen were married young. They had one child who died in infancy. They then had three more children, Christy, Becky and Alex. Sometime after Alex was born, Roger and Karen divorced. I am not sure why, but I suspect it had a lot to do with the loss of their first child.

Aunt Karen remarried, but she still considered my family as part of her extended family. She never said a harsh word to anyone. She welcomed us all even though she had divorced my uncle. Even as recently as last year, some 20 years after she and my uncle split up, she sent my grandma a mother's day card addresed to "mom." That was just her way. She has a kind and gentle spirit.

Uncle Roger tried to move on after the divorce. He remarried several times. It never worked out. And if I had my guess, I'd say that's probably because he never stopped loving my aunt. They have maintained close ties through the years. In fact, if I need to contact my uncle, I know the best way is to call Aunt Karen.

I don't understand why things never worked for them. If ever there was a couple meant for each other, it was Uncle Roger and Aunt Karen.

Sadly, last night my Aunt Karen had a heart attack. After the heart attack she suffered some sort of stroke or something along those lines. She is in a coma. They don't expect her to recover. If she does wake up, they expect her to be in a vegetative state.

I suspect that this will hit my uncle far worse than it will hit my cousins. They will probably lose their mother, but he will lose the only woman he ever truly loved; the woman he lost in so many ways years ago. Even though they have been divorced for so long, their friendship has been a fortress of sorts for my uncle.

Please say a prayer for my family tonight. I do not know if Aunt Karen is a Christian. My heart is broken for my uncle and for my cousins.