So you’re having a bad day? Nothing is working out the way you quiet wanted it to? How about a bad year? It’s funny how when one bad thing happens it seems that everything else seems to go wrong as well. Everyone has been there, bad days happen to everyone.  Denise Simons had a horrible year. You’ll want to recount your blessings after you hear about the year Denise had to endure. Your bad day won’t seem so bad after all.

A slightly plump woman, with hair that has been dyed many times, walks into her living room and sits in one of the two recliners, and starts rocking.  She has glasses that fit on the curve of her nose as if she was born to wear them. There are pictures that fill the wall of two boys. It’s like a timeline of them from being born until present day. Denise begins to talk about one of the greatest joys in her life.

Earlier in the Spring Denise and her husband Bill had to put their beloved Vizsla dog Tashee to sleep.  “She was such a sweet dog. The best dog that I had.” Denise said as she looked at a framed picture that was sitting on her coffee table. Her eyes began to fill with tears. Denise and Bill owned many dogs during their marriage, some of them even had puppies. “Tash was a great mom to her pups, she had two litters.” Denise went on talking about Tashee telling anecdotes of the times she would take her dog to her families lake house.  Tashee loved playing in the water it seemed, or she just loved being with her owners. Losing a dog is like losing a friend. Denise spent her Summer moving on from the passing of her dog.  Spending time at the lake house with her friends and family. Good times were had through out the summer. Memories that she could look back on, happier times that would make her laugh and smile. But if she had only know that those memories were going to be far, few, and in between maybe she would have done something different to enjoy them better.

Soon Denise would go back to her full time job at Morningside College. As the secretary for the bookstore Denise would greet students and faculty with a contagious smile as they walked through the double doors. Getting ready for the new school year that was approaching. Organizing books that would soon be flying off of the shelves. A meeting was scheduled with her and couple of other faculty members that she soon would be making her way to. Unfortunately Morningside needed to make some budget cuts and had to lay off a handful of people.  Denise would be one of these people. “It came as a shock, I didn’t see it coming at all.” She looks away as if she relives the moment. She went back to her corner desk in the bookstore and started packing up her items. “I was trying so hard not to cry. Don’t cry in front of Jackie. I just kept telling myself that.” Jackie, a recent graduate of Morningside was helping out Denise that day with the organization process. Denise packed up her items that had been sitting in there spots for years, and walked out the double doors for the last time.

Holding down two part time jobs as well as a full time job Denise worked for her family, and provided what ever they could have needed. While getting laid off from Morningside, she would rely heavily on her two part time jobs to suffice her money needs until a full time job was giving to her.  A bit of a rough patch for the Simons family but it’s nothing that they couldn’t get through.  Denise’s husband Bill also had a full time job as well, so paying the bills could be a bit stressful but could still be managed.

Mid September no job offers had come Denise’s way. Still working at Bath and Body Works and Wine and Sprits part time to get by.  “Bill had been complaining of stomach pains for a couple of days,” said Denise. “I had to convince him to go to the Doctor to get it checked out.” After going to the doctor’s office and getting the pains in his stomach examined Bill would be diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer.  Weeks later Bill would undergo several surgeries that would try to remove the tumor, hoping that the cancer didn’t spread anywhere. “I had to take time off of work to take care of him. We both weren’t working, it made me nervous about coming up with money for next months bills.” Denise had to take off only a couple of days.  Within the days she was taking care of Bill, Denise missed a text message dismissing her of her job at Wine and Sprits. “Don’t come back until Bill is better.” She said in a mocking tone.  More upset at the fact that she was fired through a text message rather than an actual phone call, Denise just carried on with her life and didn’t think that anything could get any worse than what it already was.

The rest of September and October would fly by. Bill was strong enough to leave the hospital and travel. Jumping on the opportunity to get out of Sioux City Denise and Bill went to Rock Island, Illinois to visit their oldest son Chris. Thinking that he was having a heart attack Bill was taken to the emergency room to get medical attention. A tear in his Aorta was the culprit of all the pain.  Due to all the test and therapy Bill had to go through for the cancer, Bill’s heart was to weak to operate and died early in the morning of October 21^st.

Today Denise still has no full time and continues to put in resumes to places. Still living in the house she and Bill raised their two boys in, still wearing her wedding ring Denise puts on a brave smile and laughs from the belly keeping hope that something great will happen everyday.

This holiday season be thankful for the family that you have, and the gifts that you receive. Someone somewhere has it far worse than you do.   Be happy for what you have and tell the people you have in your life just how much they mean, you’ll never know when they will be gone.