The Day That Changed My Life: For the Rest of My Life

By Rita Dearion

It's October 14, 2001, approximately 5:30 pm, and I am watching Sunday Night football. Unexpectedly, my breathing is getting shallow, my body is hot, and I'm sweating. I can feel my body getting weaker, I'm light-headed. Am I going to faint? I try calling my sister, but I can't talk. Finally, she walks into the room and she looks at me, I'm gasping for air, call 9-1-1. Five days later, I wake up, and I write my family a note: What happened? Did I die? They have no answers. God, help me! What happened?! Did I really die?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Micah 6:8 Books
• Release date: Jul 5, 2013
• ISBN: 9780979045875

Book preview

THE DAY THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE

A Memoir

By

Rita Dearion

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2013 by Darita Dearion

Published by

Micah 6:8 Books, LLC

P.O. Box 12

Pinole, CA 94564

The Day That Changed My Life For The Rest Of My Life. Copyright © 2013 by Rita Dearion. All rights reserved. No part of this e-book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages to be included in a review.

Cover Design: Tywebbin Creations

Cover Photo: Ron Boston Photography

Acknowledgments

As always, I have to thank, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, first for choosing me to be His vessel in writing this book.

There have been so many people that have inspired and motivated me on this journey. It has been over ten years since I started writing and I have met so many incredible people, I couldn’t possibly list all of your names, and I don’t want to forget anyone, so I want to personally say how thankful and grateful I am to you.

I want to personally thank, my publishing company, Micah 6:8 books LLC, for selecting my book to honor our Lord and Savior. With your help we will be able to share with everyone how good He is.

Wanda B. Campbell, bestselling author and dear friend, I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for you reading my book and seeing my vision, there are not enough words to express how deeply appreciated and indebted I am to you. Thank you so much!

To my daughter, Jaymie, you have been my rock and my inspiration, I love you more each day for always being there and taking care of me. You took over the leadership role in the family at a young age; you had to step into the mother role and take care of me and I truly appreciate that.

To my fantastic family: my loving mother, Bessie, and my dad, Bill, and my nephews, Chaz and Eric and my sister, Shannon. I know I depended on all of you for so many things. Chaz and Eric, thank you for helping me in and out of the wheelchair to being my part-time nurses. I know I still owe you big time. Mom and Dad, you both had to adjust to my needs on a daily and continuous basis and I thank you. Shannon, even though I am older than you, I couldn’t have had a better sister than you, you stepped up and was a great aunt to my daughter and you put up with me during all of my surgeries and most of all, I thank you for getting my daily ice cream and cinnamon rolls.

To my extended family, you three could have been my kids, Jeanette, Rigo and Abel. Jeanette, I was your cheerleading coach for years, and I didn’t think that we would have this kind of relationship today. I truly love you and your husband, Rigo, and my three grandkids, Jay, and the twins, Isabel and Olivia. You never left my side, and you were that big sister to Jaymie, and I will always cherish our relationship. For you Abel, you are that son that I never had, when your mom passed away I promised her that I would always be there for you and I will keep my promise to her. Thank you! My half-brothers, Rodney, Antoine and my sister-in-law, Theresa, and my two nieces, Loreal and Jennifer, I love you, and I thank you for your support.

To my cousins, my aunts and uncles, thank you for being there for me when I needed an ear. To my co-workers at Pepsi-Cola, my friends, just to name a few, Nikki, Carla, Raymond, Hazel, Dana, and Gene, you all gave me encouraging words and you believed in me when I didn’t believe that I could complete this task. I want to say a special thank you to you. Lavel Freeman, you will never know how much you truly helped me when I was at my lowest point in my life, you always said kind words to make me feel better about myself, and I am truly thankful for you.

Bishop Joseph E. Smith, Sr, The Church of the Living God, Pastor LaVell W. Jones, Greater Faith Missionary Baptist Church, thank you for reading my book and sharing with me words of wisdom. Pastor Samuel Smith, Jr., Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church, thank you for supporting my mother, Bessie, and for continuously praying for me and my family. To all of the ministers who included me on your prayer list, I am indebted to you. You all are forever in my heart. To my pastor, Reverend Glenn R. Shields, and my church family, the Progressive Community Church, thank you for your prayers and support.

My doctors, nurses and their staff, thank you very much. I want to thank Glenda, Curt, Sandy and Vicque. You all came into my life when I needed direction, you showed me how to regain my life back and I will always remember and cherish our relationship.

Donna of Sistahs in Conversation and Sistahs in Harmony Book Club and Gloria of Caring and Sharing Women’s Group, God showed you a vision and He personally selected you two to fulfill it. I thank you for sharing your gifts with me and because of the both of you, you made my mission in life easy to follow, you are truly virtuous women of God and I pray that God continues to bless your lives. The ladies are truly blessed to have you as leaders and role models of your groups.

I want to tell my grandparents, Albert and Betsy Galbert, both of whom went home to be with the Lord, it is because of you teaching me about God and life’s lessons that I am the lady I am today. You instilled in all of your grandchildren the importance of trust and belief in God and I truly thank you for that. To all of my family who have passed on I thank God for allowing me to have you in my life as long as I did.

Dwight Johnson, you will always have a special place in my heart. I thank you for the sixteen years we were together and I thank you for the daughter we had. I’m saddened that you are not here to see my book, but I know you are looking down on us.

Once again, I apologize if I didn’t mention your name; I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. I love you all and I deeply thank you ahead for reading my story and sharing it with whomever you wish.

Truly Blessed,

Rita Dearion

A Life-Learning Experience

Every day we take certain things in our lives for granted. We think that we are supposed to wake up every day and everything will be all right. We think that we will live the picture perfect life without experiencing any difficulties in this picture-perfect world. But I hate to say that life doesn’t work that way and if you are one who thinks obstacles won’t challenge you every day, you are not living in the real world. I personally believe that every day is a challenge and every day God has tests for us to face. How we handle the tests will determine the outcome of our lives. This is not a negative statement and I don’t want you to believe that it is. As I stated we will have good days and we will have bad days and how we handle them will determine our life’s journey.

I thought I was really in control of my life. I thought I had everything or was working toward the things I wanted in my life. I was doing what I could to obtain my personal goals and the material things I wanted. I was in control. Not! What I wanted for my life was not what God had in mind for me.

When God has plans for our lives there is nothing we can do to change them. We can try to do things our way, but sooner or later, we will make a change and listen to what God is telling us to do.

When things happen in our lives we have to completely think about the whole situation and put the details in some sort of order for them to make sense to us. We will definitely have to believe in God and pray for the answers. We will have to wait patiently, but often we are in such a hurry we don’t have time to pray and we sure don’t have time to wait on the answers.

Whether we are going through a simple challenge or a major dilemma, we must remember to include God in our entire decision-making process.

I have always prayed ever since I was a little girl. My grandmother, who is deceased, was astonishing and influential in my life. She was my inspiration in all that I did. I wanted to be like my grandmother when I grew up. She taught me how to pray and always encouraged me to believe in God, and taught me that no matter what the situation was, God would work it out. He would make a way out of no way. I didn’t totally believe that until I got older and tried God for myself.

My grandmother would always sing old church hymns around the house. She read her Bible every morning when she woke up and every night before she went to bed. One day I asked her why she prayed first thing in the morning, and she replied, God woke me up this morning after I slept last night and I am thanking him for that. It is not a guarantee that when we go to sleep at night that we are going to wake up the next morning. I just don’t pray in the morning and at night, I also pray throughout the day, because so much can happen in the course of the day. Being a little girl it didn’t make sense to me. When I got older I learned what it meant to pray.

Everyone always had something good to say about my grandmother. She was very dutiful in church, and you couldn’t tell that she couldn’t drive, because when she had to go to church for a meeting or Bible study or choir rehearsal she was always there and on time. To this day, I can’t ever remember a time that my grandmother ever missed church; I don’t remember her ever being sick when I was small. She never had any excuses or made any negative comments about God. When obstacles came her way she would simply say, Devil, get out of my way because God is a good God, and I am not going to let you ruin my day.

The day that my grandmother passed away is a day that I will always remember. I often visited my grandmother and before I would leave to go home I would always kiss her between her eyes and pinch her and take off running. Except the night she passed away. That night I didn’t kiss her; I broke the tradition.

After I got home and was laying in bed, the telephone rang. I heard the telephone ring because it was on the floor within arms’ reach, but for some strange reason I couldn’t pick it up. I heard a voice say, Rita, pick up the phone, but I couldn’t even though I wasn’t sleeping. It felt like I was paralyzed. I could hear talking, but I couldn’t move any parts of my body. It was a real strange feeling. I knew that something was wrong with my grandmother, but I didn’t want to know what it was. I just laid in a fixed position, and I couldn’t respond to anyone, I couldn’t even open my eyes. I heard everything around me, including the television and my boyfriend talking on the telephone, but I couldn’t respond. I remember saying, LORD, let me open my eyes and let me be able to handle whatever is about to happen. I know that you are not going to put more on me than I can bear, but I am not sure about this. God, I know that there is a purpose and a reason for everything that you do, but I am not sure what you are trying to tell me. Whatever it is, I don’t want to hear it, now or ever!

I knew it was bad, I could feel it, I wanted to cry, but there were no tears. Within minutes, I opened my eyes and I was told by my boyfriend to pick up the telephone; it was my mother. I said, Hello, what? She said something in reference to my grandmother, but I didn’t hear all of what she said. I was completely numb. I remember dropping the telephone and then all the tears that I wanted to release suddenly came streaming down my face. I felt like I had lost my best friend, my mentor, my everything. I remembered that I didn’t give her a final kiss. Why didn’t I kiss her like I always did? I would never get that chance to do what I didn’t do and nothing in the world would ever bring her back to me, so I could give her that final kiss. I was heartbroken, devastated and completely limp, and there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t turn back the time; I couldn’t relive that day. There wasn’t anything I could do.

This pivotal point in my life was I when I realized that life is too short and we have to live every day as if it is the last day of our lives. Tomorrow is not promised, the next hours are not promised. I’ll take it even further—the next minute is not promised. Don’t put off tomorrow what you should do today!

From that moment on, if I wanted someone to know something, I made sure I told them, because you can’t get another chance to say what you didn’t say or do to someone after they are demised.

There will always be that one special person in your life that will have a positive impact on you and you will do whatever you can to live up to their expectations. My grandmother was that person to me. I know that she is in heaven, singing her hymns, cooking great meals and doing all that she can to maintain peace between everyone.

My point is, God puts people in your life for so many reasons. Often you don’t realize the impact you have on them or they have on you and how many lives you might touch until it is too late.

My Story

October 14, 2001 is a day that I will remember for the