Left Behind to Pick up the Remote

By June Hansel Booth

Are you a widow?

Have you ever been so devastated that you didnt know how to think, how to feel and how to move forward?

Do you feel numb from head to toe?

Left Behind To Pick Up The Remote was written to offer support and a means for creating a new direction in life for women who have become widows.

More women than ever are losing their husbands and forced to continue their lives alone. Maybe its the Baby Boomer effect who knows!

Humor is a must in helping us endure the worst life has thrown at us, and how we are able to turn lifes misfortunes into happy, productive and positive energy.

Many women need help and this is a subject June can talk about with conviction, honesty and truth because she has been there, has lived through it and is now emerging a new woman with a new direction and vigor for life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Mar 30, 2016
• ISBN: 9781504353571

June Hansel Booth

June Hansel Booth is a Professional Life Coach who aids widows in taking the first step in jumpstarting their new life without their life partner, which is something she is doing herself since losing her husband of 44 years. June resides in Greensboro, North Carolina with her children and grandchildren.

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Copyright © 2016 June Hansel Booth.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5043-5356-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-5358-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-5357-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016904256

Balboa Press rev. date: 3/30/2016

CONTENTS

Chapter 1 What Happened -- Longest Night Of My Life

Chapter 2 Celebration Of Life

Chapter 3 A New Life Emerges, Whether We Like It Or Not

Chapter 4 Agent Orange Compensation

Chapter 5 11-11-11

Chapter 6 Moving On

Chapter 7 More Loss More Good News

Chapter 8 First Year Anniversary

Chapter 9 Second Year Anniversary

Chapter 10 More Changes

Chapter 11 Giving Up The House

Chapter 12 Widow Wednesdays

Chapter 13 Online Dating Sites

Chapter 14 Red Alert -- Delete, Delete, Delete

Chapter 15 Teena

Chapter 16 Olivia

Chapter 17 Oliver

Chapter 18 Marie

Epilogue - The Spirit Moves Me

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. The Living Bible, TLB, and the The Living Bible logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers.

DEDICATION

Left Behind To Pick Up The Remote is dedicated to all the widows and widowers who have lost their best friend, lover, partner, and light of their life. They now find themselves lost and without a clue as to how to jumpstart their lives to begin a new path without their loved one beside them.

PREFACE

Left Behind To Pick Up The Remote is a life-sharing of my story; what I have faced, what I continue to face, what helped, what didn't, and my continuing journey to re-create a new life after the death of my husband of 44 years.

I am a very spiritual person and some of my beliefs may not be the same as your own, but it is my hope that some of what I share may be inspirational to you, may give you comfort and a new insight and will encourage you to move forward with the life God has planned for you.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to give my love and thanks to my children for surviving this stressful time of our lives together as a family, with the help of GOD, who is always with us through thick and thin, no matter how difficult the situation.

Next, my wonderful Widow Wednesday Ladies, without whose kindness and support I would not have had a semblance of sanity.

I would like to give a big thank you to Sharon Proctor who became my neighbor, my good friend, and my editor.

A special thank you goes to my daughter, Dawn Booth Sutton, for designing the book cover, which represents my story so perfectly.

Thank you to my daughter, Kristine Booth Gobble, for the amazing amount of patience and professionalism she displayed while taking my cover photo.

Lastly, I thank my husband, Brad, whose spirit is guiding me every day to move on and to fulfill GOD's wishes here on Earth, to help others in need follow their path.

CHAPTER ONE

What Happened -- Longest Night Of My Life

I was sprawled out on the living room floor halfway watching/listening to the TV. My back was bothering me from a car accident two weeks earlier. My husband, Brad, was sitting on the loveseat, remote in hand with serious intent on finding something worthwhile to watch. As he scanned the channels, he noticed that an episode of the old show HEE HAW was coming up soon and announced he was going to set it to record just so we wouldn't miss it. Of course I rolled my eyes, sure didn't want to miss it.

Less than a minute later, I heard the remote drop to the floor and turned to look up at Brad who was sitting straight up in the middle of the loveseat, but the remote had fallen from his hand and bounced onto the floor beside me. He wasn't moving. I jumped up and began shaking him vigorously by the shoulders, calling his name over and over -- his eyes were wide open but there was clearly no life in them. His mouth was clamped shut, but there was saliva bubbling from his lips and the frightening sound of air being released. I decided I had to get him onto the floor and try to do CPR. It was difficult to drag him onto the floor -- he was a big man, but I did. The gurgling, almost spitting sound still oozed from his lips, but his mouth was clamped tightly shut and I couldn't get his mouth to open no matter how hard I pushed and pulled. I grabbed for the phone and called 911 as I continued to try to open his mouth.

The EMTs were there very quickly since the station was less than 2 miles from my house. One of the EMTs lived around the corner from our house and showed up almost immediately. He and the Captain were the first to respond. They had the same difficulty getting his mouth to open but somehow got the mouthpiece in and began CPR. Within seconds the whole house was filled with rescue workers and one woman tried to drag me into the kitchen so I didn't have to watch. I kept fighting her -- I needed to watch. I saw them zap Brad 3 times but there was no response. They loaded him onto the gurney, continuing CPR. My neighbor, Tootie, had somehow made her way into the house through the turmoil of people and was like an angel from heaven. She tried to help phone my children, but we couldn't seem to get anyone to answer. Unfortunately, at that time, I did not have text messaging.

I jumped into the passenger side of ambulance and my angel neighbor said she would handle locking up the house and then meet us at the hospital. I tried again to call my children, leaving a message with one of my daughters to contact the others and let them know we were on the way to the hospital. Riding in the ambulance with sirens blaring, weaving in and out of traffic, is much different than being in a vehicle that has to move aside for it to pass. I had an immediate appreciation and was very thankful for those drivers who actually heeded the law and moved aside. Funny how I remember thinking that at the time. Guess the mind can multi-task!

The ambulance pulled into the emergency area of the hospital and backed up to the door. I was already out and standing there to watch them bring Brad out from the back when they opened the doors. The captain somberly stood beside me. I looked at him and mumbled, They never did bring him around, did they? He replied with something to the effect that they were continuing to do everything humanly possible and they had gotten to the house and hospital very quickly, but the rest was out of our hands. Being somewhat of a realist, I looked at him and immediately knew my sweet husband Brad was gone -- his spirit had been snatched right out of his body as he sat on the loveseat clicking the remote at 7:11 pm. God took him home.

I was led into a separate room to wait -- I hated that room and kept asking when I could see my husband. My youngest daughter, her husband, and my neighbors arrived. One of my daughters was visiting her in-laws at the beach for the weekend, which happened to be Labor Day weekend, so she was unable to get to the hospital. Finally, they sent in the Chaplain and someone, not sure if she was a doctor or nurse and didn't really care, to tell me my husband had died instantly from a pulmonary embolism to his lungs from prostate cancer. We knew he had prostate cancer and had already scheduled surgery, but did not expect the blood clot to take him