“She is clothed with strength and dignity and she laughs without fear of the future.”
Proverbs 31:25
Her smile is contagious! The kind of smile that immediately causes you to stop and take notice. She diligently instructs the Barbell Class I attend at the gym week after week. However, it is not her physical strength which draws me to her.
The tragic circumstances she had recently endured were not evident in her appearance. It had been a little more than a year since Regina suffered the sudden and unimaginable loss of her dear husband, Edward. She lost her helpmate and their two children, Eden and Edward Jr., lost their daddy.
Edward, who had a fear of water, set out to conquer his anxiety by training in the open waters of Joe Pool Lake on August 20, 2012. With several completed triathlons behind him, he was hoping to make better on his time in the swimming division of the up and coming Half Iron Man Triathlon. Changing his clothes and rushing out the door, he lovingly took time to kiss Regina and promised, as he had so many times before, to return in a couple hours for dinner.
As the evening passed with no sign or word from Edward, Regina anxiously began to worry. This sort of behavior was not typical of her husband. He was never late - at least not without a phone call explaining why and when he planned to be home. Call after call went straight to his voicemail. So Regina went looking. Racing to the boat ramp at Lynn Creek Park, a disturbing feeling came over Regina as she noticed Edward’s car parked right where he had left it. His towel still folded and laying on the front seat, awaiting his return from the water. Edward, who was forty-five years old and in excellent physical condition was missing and everything suddenly changed for Regina.
A two-day search and the watch on his wrist revealed that Edward had accidentally been tangled in some hydrilla and drowned only twelve minutes into his training. They would have been married eight years.
Can one ever really understand why such things occur? Why Edward? Why Me? Why Now? Circumstances like these often conjure up an endless stream of unanswered questions, coupled with anger, resentment and fear. The death of Edward left Regina a widow with two small children, ages four and fifteen months.
