Happy Birthday, Darling!
Happy Birthday, my darling. If you only know one thing, please let it be this: I love you and miss you every single day!
All my love forever and ever,
Camille
My darling Rex,
It's so hard for me to imagine that today would have been your 95th birthday! My grandparents lived to be more than 100, however, so I can't help but wish you were still with us, healthy and happy. What a storehouse of wonderful memories we would have! We would have been married for 45 years! Who knows how many times we would have visited Italy or how many children we would have had? But I'm so very thankful for the time we did have together, for our darling son, and for our love that will last forever.
You are a grandfather, Rex! Mostly of boys, but a grandfather nonetheless. Your youngest grandchild is Christian's son, Michael Scott Vian. He looks a lot like you, and that just shows me how strong the Vian genes are. He even has the "Vian" hair color and eye color, and Christian continues to look like your mini-me!
Michael, Christian, and I are so proud of you, darling and all you accomplished in life. We miss you every day, and we will love you forever!
Happy birthday, my darling!
I love you forever!
Love,
Camille
Today marks the 45th anniversary of my beloved Rex's death at the age of forty-nine. As I do every day, I remember him with tremendous love and deep sadness, but also with great joy. Rex brought more love and joy into my life in the years we shared than I've experienced in all the other years of my life put together.
Rex could be serious, and, because he was a man of great passion, he could lose his temper on occasion. (He only lost it with me once, and then, only momentarily.) But, at heart, Rex was a happy, joyful person, who loved life and embraced it to its fullest. I do my best to follow his example, As for our son, embracing life with joy is something that comes naturally, a trait I believe he inherited from his dad.
Wherever you are dearest Rex, please know you are loved, and please know we will be reunited some day. The love and passion we shared - and still do share - is truly stronger than death. We will find each other again. Until that day, I hold you in my heart, wrapped in love and joy. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for loving our little boy.
I love you, darling.
Love,
Camille
Remembering, on Valentine's Day, the great love and passion Rex and I shared for three-plus years. No, it wasn't long, but a love that great and that passionate is enough to sustain one for a lifetime! Rex and I shared more in three years than most couples share in a lifetime. We shared everything! There were no secrets between us! And I am thankful every day that we share the most darling son! Thank you for giving him to me, Rex. My pregnancy was, as you put it, "beautiful!" And Valentine's Day was our first holiday together as a family! So it's always special!
I remember, too, the first Valentine's Day Rex and I shared. Rex sent me three dozen pink and red roses. We went out for a romantic dinner of filet mignon, baked potatoes, amd asparagus. When we arrived home, Rex lighted candles, put some Johnny Mathis on, and we cuddled on the sofa with a box of chocolate covered strawberries. Neither of us were great dancers, but we danced anyway, and I sang "Unforgettable" to Rex between kisses. It was so very romantic and everything any woman - or man - could ever wish for!
Christian and I love you Rex, and we always will.
Happy Valentine's Day, darling!
Love,
Camille
As I mentioned in my first remembrance of my life with Rex, our much loved son, Christian, was born approximately two months prematurely. His lungs were immature; however, they matured quickly in the hospital. He wasn't home long, though, until he seemed too sleepy and just generally apathetic, even for a tiny baby.
So, I called Rex at work, and we took Christian to Children's Hospital. The radiologist there said he did not have pneumonia, but I told Rex I knew Christian was sick, and I wasn't taking him home until he was checked more thoroughly. So, we went down to the ER.
While we were waiting our turn, I think Christian's breathing almost stopped. I'm still not sure. I just know Rex took him from me and gave him some sort of resuscitation, then took him into the ER. As soon as the doctor saw Christian, he grabbed him and took him into a room where a team of doctors and nurses began giving him oxygen and IVs. Rex and I followed them into the room, but we stayed back and let the doctors do their work. When we heard Christian cry, and the doctors cheer, we went out to the waiting room. When the doctor came out, the news wasn't good. Christian did have pneumonia (he'd no doubt caught it during his initial hospital stay), and he was going to have to be placed on a respirator. It could go either way.
Rex and I went to the administrative section of the hospital, where we filled out papers, and Rex held my hand. I couldn't have gotten through that whole ordeal if Rex hadn't been there with me. I was worried sick about Christian, and I felt like I had failed him since Rex had mentioned casually, months earlier, that Ruth had given birth to his other five children within weeks of their due date. At home, Rex and I spent most of that night just sitting quietly together, holding hands or hugging each other, willing our tiny son to live. When we did sleep, we held each other tightly.
Of course, we visited the hospital daily, but I was still surprised when, a few weeks later, the doctor called in mid-morning and told me he was releasing Christian. I called Rex (at work again!), and he drove me, and my mother, to Children's to pick up our little boy. When Christian was placed in my arms, the very first thing all three of us noticed was that he looked exactly like Rex! Exactly! I'm not sure how a two month old baby can look exactly like a forty-eight year old man, even though that man is his dad, but Christian did! And Rex and I loved that!
Love,
Camille
From the day my pregnancy was confirmed, Rex and I were so excited! Rex said he was "due for a girl." I didn't really care whether we had a girl or a boy as long as the baby was healthy.
Rex was living in a apartment off of Livingston Avenue in Columbus then, and I was staying with him. As our baby - and my belly - grew, the baby became more and more active. It got so active that I wondered if it was, indeed, still in a completely intact amniotic sac! At times, I could feel a tiny hand or foot give me a push or kick and even see the outline!
Rex, too, was surprised at the baby's activity. Rex's estranged wife, who was in the process of obtaining a divorce, had given birth to five children, so Rex was no stranger to pregnant ladies. I remember one day, when we were just getting up, and I was sitting at the foot of the bed. Rex was standing to one side, and we were talking. (I have no idea about what.) The baby decided to roll over and give me one of its favorite karate moves. Rex, whose eyes were on my swollen belly and not my face, interrupted, with great delight and a huge smile on his face, and said, "I've never seen a baby move like that!"
As those who know us know, our little boy was born eight weeks early. When the hospital gave me drugs to stop the contractions, they worked...too well. The contractions did stop, but both the baby and I were suffering from a lack of oxygen. All of a sudden, it was important to get the baby out...now! After giving me supplemental oxygen and finally managing to rouse me, the doctor told me he wanted me to take a spinal. I was in so much pain (they were inducing labor now, with very strong contractions, to try to induce birth before the baby suffered complications) that I just told them to "give me the shot!" Which they did.
Rex held my hand during a perilous high forceps delivery, when both the baby and I could have been lost. But, luck was on our side. I pulled through fine, and though our son (yes, it was a boy!) was born with immature lungs, contracted pneumonia, and spent many weeks in the hospital, he did recover with no lasting effects. Rex was with me night and day as Christian Peter Rex Vian (our son) recovered in Children's Hospital. Neither one of us have ever felt that we can thank the doctors in the ER and on the sixth floor enough.
The day Rex drove us home, we both marveled at how healthy and fat Christian looked! (And he's remained healthy, but never fat!) When I looked down at his sweet little face, I could see he looked just like Rex! He still does today, many years later. What a happy day that was, for me, for Rex, and for our little boy.
I wish Rex were here so he could see the darling man Christian has become and how very much like Rex he is, in every way.
I love you, Rex. I always will. And I'm so happy to be the mother of your son!
Love,
Camille