QUANTICO, Va. - Kristen Clark's first husband was a Navy diver. He survived Iraq, but was killed in a motorcycle accident after returning home in 2005.
"Your world just falls out from underneath you," says Clark.
She was left a widow with three boys to raise. Eventually she began dating again. Four years later, her fianc?, who had been in the Coast Guard, died too.
She told herself then she never wanted to take another chance on love.
"Never wanted to go there. Never wanted to open my heart. Never wanted to even feel a sense of warmth or happiness because I was worried it was going to be taken away," says Clark.
Eventually she acknowledged something.
"I realized that with my kids and myself, we needed help," she says.
Clark finally built up the courage to fly her boys to something called TAPS Good Grief Camp. TAPS stands for tragedy assistance program for survivors.
Their plane was late, which meant she crossed paths with a Marine who was a mentor at the camp.
"Had the plane not been late, he never would have seen all five kids and I going crazy at the check-in spot.
What did the Marine think when he saw this lady with five kids?
?Well, I just saw an amazing testimony of a person who really had the will to go on. To be chasing five kids around. Trying to check in. Dragging bags. Just doing the best she could - on her own.?
She is on her own no more. On Saturday, in the chapel at Quantico, Kristen Clark will marry that Marine - Travis Hassell.
They've been frantically making the plans while juggling the care of six kids. Baby Issac is their latest addition.
"What changed my mind? Seeing the boys and how he was with them," says Clark.
And, she says, seeing her boys laughing again.
The couple plans to honeymoon in Virginia wine country. Then Travis has to get back to Japan where he's stationed. They're hoping that before too long the whole gang, kids and all, will be settled in Okinawa - living together as one big happy family.
Source: http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/local/military-widow-takes-another-chance-on-love-123011
san francisco 49ers ben roethlisberger pittsburgh steelers 49ers news johnny knox johnny knox monday night football
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.