Author: Kathy Stephens

So many times through the years of Dennis working off shore I would say to him, “Baby I need a passport”. He would laugh and say, “why, you don’t even like to fly.” And the last we made a special trip to NOLA to get his passport renewed I said it again, “baby I need a passport”. He laughed…..

This time, this very night a year ago I was nervously getting ready for bed knowing that I was getting up at 5am to head to NOLA to finally get a passport so that I could get on a plane to fly to TRINIDAD to see my sweet, yet sick husband.

Having had several conversations earlier that day with doctors and other people I was told that He could not be flown home, he was too sick. Rowan immediately started the ball rolling to get me and Chris (Dennis’ Son) to Trinidad as soon as possible. I remember I could hardly sleep that night. I tossed and turned and watched the clock the entire night. I was so anxious to get there. I just wanted to see him, hold his hand and talk to him.

We hit the road about 5am cause we had to be there by 8 to get a medical emergency passport printed out so we could catch our plane out of New Orleans by 4. Just as we walked into the Government building and entered the passport office I got a call. “Good Morning Kathy, well i’ve got bad news and good news which do you want first?” I remember my heart sinking but yet I was clinging to the HOPE that I could get to HIM. I think for the very first time in my life I FELT TOTALLY HELPLESS…. I remember looking out from the 14th floor of the government building gazing over the city of New Orleans and for a moment thinking about us having just been there 6 weeks earlier on a little get away and then as quick as I had that thought my mind came back to the voice on the other end of the phone. The bad news he said was that his kidney’s were failing and they were heading to dialysis with him and the good news he said was that they had talked to some private medical flight team who said they thought they could get him home.I was miles away from the love of my life and I knew He needed me. At that moment it was music to my ears… Chris and I would wait for a couple of hours, get our passports and get ourselves to the airport. New tickets Ordered. Now we were flying to Fort Lauderdale rather than Trinidad and we would see Dennis about 10:30 that night.

I don’t remember a time that my heart has ever beat so fast and my anxiety was at an all time high. Dennis was right, I didn’t like to fly but I remember almost running through the New Orleans airport so that I could get to Fort Lauderdale and get my husband off the incoming plane.

I remember as we sat out on the tarmac waiting for take off I began to pray intently for safety for us and BIG TIME safety for Dennis. The honest truth is I had very mixed emotions about what was taking place. Within a 10 hour time frame I had been told “no way he can fly”, to “oh, we are gonna fly him home”. TRUTH is my prayer had changed after I got the word they were flying him home to “God just get him on the ground so that I can talk to HIM”…… Please GOD ……. I remember I was screaming so loud on the inside I knew others could hear me. PLEASE GOD…. Please.

There is a song by Sam Smith called, “Stay With Me’, you may or may not be familiar with it but for some reason it began to play over and over in my mind as we flew from New Orleans to Fort Lauderdale. It was my heart song, my heart’s cry to my sweet husband. Please., “oh won’t you…. STAY WITH ME…..”

That was the longest night of my life. Our plane landed in Fort Lauderdale and I remember it was wet and cold and truth is I didn’t even care. I was beginning to go numb all over. Dennis’ Flight…. well what was suppose to be a 3 hour flight turned into a 6 hour flight . The night began to go array and my life would never be the same. Time was not on our side.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 ” the race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; but TIME and chance happen to them all.”

The passport… WELL I never used it…

What do you see when you look at this picture? YEAP… pretty simple, me taking a photo. As a Photographer sometimes you have to get in a crazy position to get the best shot. What you don’t see is the person taking the photo of me taking the photo. That would be my sweet husband. Many of you don’t know this but the first date He ever took me on was a trip down the Natchez Trace to this historical church and what did he have around his neck….. YEAP a camera. It was his hobby when we met. He had such an eye for detail. Infact there were a few times He actually went with me to shoot a wedding but that “me being the boss thing” didn’t last too long. ha ha

I came up on this train the other night here in town and as I came to a standstill I saw that the cross bars were down, Lights were flashing, horn was blowing and I could actually feel the vibration from the roar of the engine. I sat there thinking….. Isn’t this how LIFE IS. Just when we least expect it, It throws down the crossbars, flashes it’s light and brings us to a stand still. Sometimes the pain from the “roadblock” causes us to vibrate within.

At first the interruption can sometimes be aggravating, making us irritated at the STOP, the halt in our lives, making us scared of the unknown STOP, BUT if we stop long enough to think upon the event we find that if we will allow GOD to TAKE OVER, our breathing begins to return to normal, the vibration seems to lessen and the fears begin to subside.