A Life Worth Living
By: Jayden Treamer
Little did I know going to talk to an elder person for a project was going to have such an impact on my life. It was March 12, 2019 when I met a guy who was going to have a forever impact on my life. He was the first person I saw as I walked into the Colonel Town Senior Luncheon. His name was Larry Downs. The second I saw him running around trying to find stuff to help people I knew he was the person I wanted to talk to and learn stories from. Larry was one of a kind and is someone that can put hope and power into anybody’s life.
The year was 1961 and I was in my senior year of high school when I saw this girl walking down the science hallway. She was the prettiest girl I had ever seen and I knew I had to have a chance with her. Little did I know that this girl was going to be the love of my life. I had to ask around and figure out her name, I just had to figure it out. I finally asked this one person and they knew her name. Her name was Anne. I got to go on a couple dates with Anne before we made it serious and considered ourselves dating. I absolutely loved her and wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.
Fast forward a couple months to the middle of 1962 It was almost time to graduate and it was going to be so great because my wonderful girlfriend and I can move on and out of here. I wanted to propose to her and make her my wife so we could live happily ever after. I finally graduated on June 14, 1962. I was surrounded by people I loved and the love of my life. I had been working in grocery stores since I was 12 and been cutting meat since I was 18 at first national. I absolutely loved meat cutting. I wanted to cut meat for the rest of my life, and I also wanted to become meat manager. After 2 years of working cutting meat I finally was promoted to meat manager, but I had to move north and I could do it. I moved up to the north country. Before we moved north though my girlfriend and I got married in Dover. We got married on March 7, 1964. That was one of the best days of my life. We spent our week after the wedding in North Conway where there was not a stitch of snow the whole winter. If I could give you one piece of advice I would want to let you know that no matter who you date or marry there are always going to be ups and downs. You have to pick someone that you are willing to ride the roller coaster with.
We had our first son. He was the love of our lives. We absolutely adored him just as every parent does. His name was Kevin. Kevin made our lives more complicated, but it was totally worth it. Kevin is still around us and is always there to help my wife and I when we need it. Around 6 years after Kevin was born we had our second son. He was so precious and we absolutely adored him as well. Anne and I were living our best lives with two sweet boys.
The day… The day I had never thought would happen to my sweet beautiful little family. My youngest was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 10. The worst day of my life… or the day I thought was the worst. Little did I know that that was just the beginning of a long 3 years. The worst 3 years of my life and the years I thought I wasn't going to get through. My second son knew the day was coming and he knew that everything was going to be alright. He was a strong believer in god and knew that god needed him and that he was was special. I will forever be grateful that he was content with knowing how sick he was. It was all because of his strong belief in god, and knowing everything happens for a reason..
After a couple years being diagnosed with cancer we went on a Disney trip. We didn't have to pay a dime. It was all put together for us. It was the last trip that we ever took as a family all together. I will forever cherish those 7 days. The best 7 days of those dreadful 3 years. I absolutely hate roller coasters, but when Kevin asked “Can we go on that big roller coaster?,” with the cutest puppy eyes you’d ever see there was no way for me to say no. One thing I remembered from when I was a kid was not to sit all the way to the back or all the way to the front. Those are the worst seats on the roller coaster in my opinion. I know that I only live once though so even though I hated them I had to live my life to the fullest. After going on space mountain I had felt the best I had in a while seeing the biggest smiles on my boys face. The rest of the trip was a blast and we ate as much food as we could, and had as much fun as we could until it was time to go home.
A month after our Disney trip we had a doctors appointment. We feared what they were going to say. We prayed for awesome news, but we knew that wasn't reality.. The doctor called us in, and we sat in those chairs