Christmas memory: The gift of a helpmate is a good reason to celebrate

Editor's note: As the Christmas season continues, here is one husband's tribute to the gift of a special helpmate.

By Robert E. Perry

In December 1986, my newlywed wife, newborn baby girl and I were forced to celebrate our first Christmas together a thousand miles from home and family in Cairo, Ill. Being the newest member of a medical group meant I would have to work the Christmas holiday. I was called to the emergency room in the early morning hours of Christmas Day to care for a single-car accident occurring on the I-57 bridge over the Mississippi River.

The preliminary reports were grave. I was asked to rush to the ER in advance of the ambulances' arrival to prepare for the multiple victims of what was described as a devastating crash. The car, traveling an estimated 80 miles per hour, had bounced multiple times off the guard railings as it careened across the bridge. Pieces of the vehicle were everywhere, and all the windows were knocked out. Broken suitcases, clothes and fragments of what had been carefully wrapped Christmas presents were scattered over the pavement and into the river.

Two sisters and their beautiful daughters had been driving to Memphis from Chicago to visit elderly parents when tragedy struck. Swerving to avoid a passing car on a dark bridge threw them into a spin. In an instant that spin became a whirlwind of pain and confusion, especially for the little girls awakened in the back seat by screams and screeching steel. Forcibly taken from the crushed car by strangers, strapped to boards in the cold winter night and held captive for hours while hearing the cries of the other family members similarly confined nearby was almost unbearable for all of them.

As we worked our way through the many X-rays and tests required in such a situation, my staff and I were amazed to find the only significant injury to be a mild compression fracture of the spine in one of the adult women. All were battered, bruised and bent, but for the most part not broken.

The Christmas dawn was at hand, and the uncles from Chicago would be on their way to take them all back home. However, hours would pass before they could get there.

The early-morning call woke my beautiful bride, who immediately jumped at the chance to open our home to guests for Christmas. After ushering them in and getting them all to bed, she sprang into action. Being Christmas and suddenly having six guests for dinner required that she call for help from some of our Godly and good-hearted neighbors. Covered dishes of food and extra hands in the kitchen began arriving. Without asking, trips were made under the Christmas trees in several homes, taking gifts intended for their children and loved ones and presenting them to our guests to make sure that they were not without presents on this special day.

The uncles arrived, presents presented and a wonderful feast was served. In addition to giving thanks for the food, the miracle and grace shown our guests through out their ordeal the previous night -- and, of course, the gift of his son Jesus Christ, I also had to thank God for my marvelous wife. Her immediate, energetic and enthusiastic investment in the lives of these strangers thrust upon her in the predawn hours could have easily and reasonably been refused, especially, when one considers that Christmas is usually a day reserved for family and close friends. Her compassionate nature shining through that day was just a glimpse of what has been 20 years of the servant's heart on display everyday in our home, our church and our community.

I have been credited for various accomplishments over our two decades of marriage, none of which would have been possible without Jane, my fantastic facilitator who truly lives up to the biblical descriptor of "a helpmate." I thank God this and every Christmas for the gift of a wonderful wife and the wonder life she has made for me.

I am a grateful and undeserving husband.

Dr. Robert E. Perry is a Cape Girardeau physician.