A LOVE STORY
R Heath Davis III was a long time friend of mine. It took thirty years before the reason he was in my life was revealed to me.
I worked at a law firm as a legal stenographer the summers I was 17, 18, and 19. It was in downtown Chicago and I used to love the commute on the train, eating my breakfast, drinking my coffee and watching the world go by. There were four lawyers at the firm but it was R. Heath Davis III who I enjoyed the most. Heath was in his mid 30’s. He was very handsome in a James Dean kind of way, had a sarcastic wry sense of humor and a mischievous nature, and I had a mad crush on him. He was happily married to Jane and at the time they had two young children.
When I met Heath at the law firm, I was only 17 years old and everyone treated me like a kid. But not Heath — he treated me like an adult. I have very fond memories of discussions we had in his office about everything from Pop Culture, Religion, Viet Nam and Current Events to his desire to be a race car driver. He was one of the first people to actually listen to what I had to say and at least pretend to be interested. I was young and timid and had very little confidence and he made me feel “grown up” and interesting. Sometimes he would call me in to dictate a letter and we would get to talking about something and I would be gone for an hour. When I got back to my office the older ladies in the steno pool would make some comment about how long I had been gone maybe even suspecting something improprietous. We often went out to lunch together and had many in depth conversations over lunch. We sometimes disagreed but loved discussing the issues and sparring with each other and teasing each other mercilessly. He never called me Laura, it was always “Wachter”, my last name at the time and I referred to him as “Mr. Davis”. Our relationship never moved into anything inappropriate or uncomfortable. It was just fun - by far one of the more convivial friendships in my life.
On my last day the last summer I worked for the law firm Heath walked me down to the lobby to say good-bye. Years later, looking back I had this very vague memory of him giving me a quick kiss goodby. I couldn’t figure out if that had really happened or if the kiss was just a fantasy of a young girl who had a crush on her boss. The memory was very real but I could not imagine Mr. Davis doing anything so inappropriate as he was always the perfect gentleman.
Over the years I never forgot Heath. I got married, had children and built a life for myself and I always sent Heath and Jane a Christmas card giving them news of my ever growing family. I would get short pithy replies from Heath about how much he and Jane enjoyed the letters. In 1985, about 8 years after I had last seen Heath I decided to give him a call. I was shocked at how terrible he sounded. He spoke with a slur and sounded angry and depressed. It turned out that he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. When they took him for surgery he told his surgeon “either fix me or kill me doc”. Well, the surgeon didn’t do either and the challenges resulting from the surgery were far more than both he and Jane expected. We had a good chat but I hung up very concerned for my friend. Much later, I learned from Jane that although the surgery went as well as could be expected Heath had a very long recovery at which time he spent four long months just lying on the couch, too depressed to move. It was during those months that I had called him. He had to relearn to talk and walk and the going was rough. Although he had changed a lot as most people with brain injuries do, he was eventually able to return to work as a lawyer but on a much smaller scale. He had a small private practice of his own.
Over nearly 30 years I continued to send Christmas cards every year and every once in awhile I would receive a reply but most years I would not. I sometimes thought I should quit sending them as it had been so long and he rarely responded. But I continued, because every time I thought to take him off my Christmas card list I found I wanted him in my life even if it was at just the outskirts.
Then in 2007 my sister’s husband had a brain injury. He was in a coma for eight weeks. When he came out of the coma he was severely disabled. Physically he could still get around but he was partially blind, not able to follow conversations, easily stressed and could not be left alone.
I visited my sister, Ann when Max was still rehabilitating and had not yet returned home. She was understandably overwhelmed. One of her issues was that she did not have a healthcare power of attorney for Max. This was causing all sorts of problems and making every step a little more difficult. We were talking about this one night and I said, “If only we knew a lawyer.” And that is when Heath came to mind.
I called Heath out of the blue having not talked to him since he had his brain tumor. He was happy to hear from me and we made plans to meet for lunch the next day. I once again took the commuter train into the city and memories of my time at the law firm flooded back. I was excited to be seeing him again but anxious about how the brain injury may have changed him. As I approached his office I found taped to the outside door my most recent family Christmas picture and a red rose. I chuckled as I walked in and Heath greeted me as he always greeted me at the law firm “Wachter, how ya doin’?!” and gave me a big hug. Heath obviously looked much older but had the same mischievous twinkle in his eye and the same sarcastic sense of humor. It was like my time at the law firm had been just yesterday. We had a memorable lunch and once again talked about everything under the sun. At one point during the lunch he spontaneously took my hand and kissed it. It was an affectionate “it is just so good to see you” gesture. We started to talk about my time at the law firm and he said “You know, I have this memory about your last day. I think I kissed you good bye which was very inappropriate but I just so badly wanted you to have a good life.” We laughed over that as I told him of my mad crush and my inability to separate fantasy from reality. Once we finished catching up I told him about Ann’s situation. He offered to help us with the power of attorney. Ann and I will both be forever grateful to him for being there for us in our hour of need. He was one of many angels to help us during that most difficult of times not only because of the power of attorney but because he and Jane shared their experience and were able to give us some insight into how to move forward after Max’s brain injury since they had lived it. The world works in mysterious ways and to this day I believe we never lost touch so that he could be there to help us when I needed him most.
Heath and I stayed in closer contact after that. We often called each other just to chat. We got to know each other’s families. We still had a lot to talk about and we both agreed that we must have known each other in a former life. Last year I heard from Jane that Heath had passed away. He had a lot of health problems due to his brain injury and finally succumbed. He left Jane and four children and multiple grandchildren and in reading his son, John’s eulogy I could see that he had touched many lives.
Sometimes a person comes into your life and it feels like they have always been there. Some people understand you like no one else does at a time in your life when you need most to be understood. Sometimes a friendship is so strong that no matter the years that go by it always seems like you just saw each other yesterday. And sometimes the greatest love stories are not between a significant other and you but between you and a good friend that leads to you both finding a lifelong home in one another’s hearts.