Amarillo

Bob took Connie's vitals and took some blood samples. He talked with her for awhile about how she was feeling and how long this had been going on. He then told her to get some rest, we stepped out of the bedroom. Bob and I sat down at the kitchen table where Abby had some coffee ready. He said Connie needed to get more tests done and to be at the hospital in Amarillo on Monday morning. Meanwhile he would drop off the blood samples at the lab to be processed overnight. He called in a prescription for a vitamin supplement for me to pick up at our pharmacy, and then he left.

I didn't get much sleep that night, nor for the next six months. The lab tests, x rays, and scans all confirmed that Connie had an aggressive form of cancer that was already attacking parts of her body. I stayed home and did my best to care for her. Abby spent as much time with her as she could, and Judy quit the rodeo to stay home as well. Bob Murphy arranged for a home health nurse to provide care.

This was the hardest six months of my life. I watched the most important person in my life as she slipped away from me. I held her as she cried when she lost her hair from the chemo. I fed her even when she was too sick to eat. I sat in her room and watched her while she slept, afraid each breath might be her last.

It took six months. At the end, we had a hospice nurse watching her on a 24-hour basis. I was sitting in the corner of the room when the nurse whispered to me, "It's time. She's slipping away."

I stepped out into the hallway and called to the rest of the family. The kids were all there, along with our parents and her sisters. We gathered silently around her bed, and I held her hand. I saw her open her eyes and look at me, she squeezed my hand. And then she was gone.

I grieved for her passing for two months. I stayed home and took care of everything I thought I needed to do. Bob Murphy came to check up on me one afternoon. "Rog," he said, "you took care of Connie when she needed you, but now you need to take care of yourself. It's time to move on."

I called Ted Stevens that afternoon and told him I was ready to go back to work. That's how I ended up on a platform in the North Sea.

I woke up from my reverie in time for the jumbo jet to land at JFK.

North to Alaska

I had been home from Amsterdam for three weeks. I had seen all the family, played with the grandkids. I met Judy's boyfriend and horse wrangler, Chris. Judy was back on the rodeo circuit and predicted she would be the NFR champion this year. Jake was running the ranch with the help of a couple of hired hands. Uncle Chet had retired from being actively involved in the operation and left everything to Jake. Zach was working in Doc Brown's large animal vet clinic until the day he could open his own. The brothers had discussed setting aside some land on the corner of the ranch down by the highway to build the new clinic. Abby and Jack were expecting again.

I was watching the farm reports when the telephone rang. It was Ted Stevens.

"Are you ready to go back to work yet? Rog, we've got a contract for a project at Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, and I think you would make a good operations manager for us there. Can you do a six-month contract for me?"

"Well, Ted," I replied, "that would work out fine for me. I'd be back in time to crown the next NFR barrel racing champion, walk my daughter down the aisle, and see my next grandbaby born. When do you need me?"

"The sooner the better would be great. Can you be in Anchorage in two weeks? We'll have a company plane there to take you the rest of the way."

"Can you make it three weeks? I'll have everything wrapped up here then."

"That's fine, Rog. We'll be looking for you then."