As The Fog Lifts

By Sue Wilson

Jamie has always been someone's daughter, mother, or wife, but mostly hse has just been "the pastor's wife." After her husband's death, she struggles to find the real Jamie that's been hiding inside her for so long. She didn't expect to find a second chance at love down that foggy road.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sue Wilson
• Release date: Sep 10, 2019
• ISBN: 9781720465928

Sue Wilson

Sue Wilson has been a pastor's wife for over 50 years; she is a mother of three children and grandmother of eleven. She loves to write, but it is important to her that what she writes demonstrates her faith in God and the Biblical values that have been passed down from generation to generation in her family. She also enjoys reading books in a variety of genres. Her leisure time includes watching movies, playing video games, and singing Karaoke. She and her husband have retired from the church they founded and served in for 35 years. They now lead a non-profit organization to encourage and support pastors and their wives.

Book preview

As The Fog Lifts

Sue Wilson

Published by Sue Wilson, 2019.

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

AS THE FOG LIFTS

First edition. September 10, 2019.

Copyright © 2019 Sue Wilson.

ISBN: 978-1720465928

Written by Sue Wilson.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

As the Fog Lifts

Also By Sue Wilson

As the Fog Lifts

Jamie reached over and switched off the radio. Not that she’d been listening to it really, but suddenly it just seemed like a distraction she didn’t need. Fog! Really? After a day like today, and now I get fog? How am I supposed to find my way home in this mess?

Jamie muttered and fumed as she pulled out onto the highway that would take her the 30-mile trek from the hospital to her childhood home. She peered into the soupy fog that enveloped the highway ahead of her as if by staring at it, she could somehow see beyond it. Just follow the white line on the side of the road, Jamie.

The Beatles tune, It’s Been a Hard Day’s Night, interrupted her thoughts as her phone came to life in her purse. Startled by the interruption, Jamie groped in her purse, trying not to take her eyes off the road. Why does it always sink to the bottom? Pressing the speaker-phone button, Jamie laid the phone in her lap.

Hello?

Mom? Is everything okay? How’s Grandma?

Hi, Cindy. She’s okay, honey, just taking a little longer than normal to recover, that’s all. The doctor wants to keep her at the hospital long enough to get some of her strength back. He assured me that gall bladder surgery is not something to be concerned about, but that her body just needs a little more time to recover than most folks.

Oh, that’s good news. How ‘bout you, Mom, you doing okay? Do you want me to come down there and help you? I asked Gil, and he said I can go if you need me.

Cindy, don’t you dare drive all this way! I’m fine, and Grandma’s going to be fine too. You stay right there and stop worrying, OK? I’m on my way back to Grandma’s house now, and it’s a little foggy, so I’m trying to focus on the road. You know—my bad night vision – it’s probably not a good idea for me to be on the phone right now. How about I call you when I get there?

Oh Mom, please be careful! I know you have driven that road many times, but you’ve been away from there for a long time. Something could have changed. Maybe you should just stay at the hospital tonight or get a motel.

I thought about it, but I really want to relax at home, Cindy. I’ll be careful, I promise. I’m already half-way there. I’ll be home in no time, and I promise I will call you right away, okay?

Well, okay. Don’t forget, it’s two hours earlier here, so be sure you call. I’ll be up and waiting to hear from you.

Oh, that’s right. Okay, honey, don’t worry. I’ll be fine, and I’ll call you soon, okay? Bye – love you.

Flicking her lights from bright to dim and back again, Jamie could only think about the old saying, this fog is thicker than pea soup. A smile caught the corners of her mouth. Her mind wandered back to Cindy. My common-sense daughter—so much like Phil. She realized how grateful she was for that. She played back the conversation in her mind and remembered how many times Phil had told her the same things: Call me when you get there. Be careful. Take it easy.

Phil, you left part of yourself in our daughter. I can never thank you enough for that. She’s a blessing to me.

Looking ahead at the soupy fog outside her window, Jamie thought about Cindy’s words. You’ve been away from there for a long time. How long had it been? Maybe 35 years? How does time pass by so quickly, never giving you a chance to say what you really want to say or do all the things you really want to do? How has my life gone from being a teenager living in her father’s house to a widow with three grown children? A widow? She had always thought of widows as little old ladies; how could that word possibly pertain to her? And how could it define who she was? She had no idea how to be a widow. I knew how to be a pastor’s wife; I was good at it too. What do I do now? I don’t know how to be what I am now.

She thought about how many times she had been introduced, in fact, had even introduced herself, as the pastor’s wife. How strange was that? No other woman introduced herself as the doctor’s wife, or ‘the plumber’s wife, or the carpenter’s wife! How did the pastor’s wife title come to be the thing that defines me? And now I’m not even that anymore. Jamie sighed. Phil would be laughing right now if he were here. He’d say, Where do you get these crazy questions?

Her shoulders slumped a bit as her thoughts drifted to Phil. She missed him. She missed their late-night conversations before drifting off to sleep, she missed the way her stomach did a little flip when he winked at her from across the room, she missed the scent of his aftershave that always seemed to linger in the air, even after he had left the house. Nothing seemed the same. People she had known for years seemed to avoid her like she was a fragile flower that they were afraid to touch. It was awkward, as if no one knew what to say to her. She felt like no one needed her anymore. Even her kids, although they tried