Story of Robert Melton's stroke, family's struggle to adapt questions meaning of marriage vows
"In sickness and in health." It's a vow that's so central to any relationship. It shoots straight to the core of any union and binds people in love, not in obligation.
On Sunday, The Washington Post reporter Susan Baer told the tragically gripping narrative of former Post reporter, Robert Melton, who quickly fell from the height of his career as a renowned journalist in the wake of a heart attack and stroke.
The beloved colleague, husband and father of two, was left brain damaged at 46 years old, and in an effort to give him a more "stable environment," he was placed in Sunrise, an assisted living facility.
Now, eight years later, Melton's daughters — Hope and Nell — are 9 and 11 years old. His wife, Page, is remarried to Allan Ivie — by all accounts, a good-hearted man who cares for Melton as family.
And that's where the story of Robert, Page and Allan is born.
Page Ivie struggled with the decision to divorce her husband of 18 years, who had given her two children and continued to love and cherish her, even after his stroke and memory loss. She found solace in her, and her new husband's, continued support — through weekly breakfasts and continued visits — of the man she says she will always love.
There is no doubt that Page Ivie is an incredibly strong woman. This is not a situation any person envies. And God willing, it's a situation many will never have to live on their own.
But if love really is enough, why would she leave?
Love, true love, isn't a fickle thing. It's all consuming — it's the end all, be all. You live your life for that one person, and they do the same for you. An injury or accident can keep someone from remembering the details — the names, the little pieces that make up a life of memories — but it can never, ever overcome love.
Melton, ripped away from a life of days shared at his family's Richmond home and boundless, enterprising journalism, lost so much more. He lost the love of his life.
His capacity to love, to love his two daughters, his brother, his father and Page, was discounted. It's still Robert, despite it all.
And to love, in sickness and in health, is to be there — to be that person's one and only, in the fight through thick and thin. It's in love, not in obligation.
Each situation stands alone. No one can ever fully understand someone else's life — the emotions, anguish and heartache that go into the everyday. But I would venture to say that Robert Melton would be happier with his wife. He would be happy to know that he's who Hope and Nell run to with every achievement and hardship. He would be happy to know that he's the number one, not the one visited every Saturday for an IHOP breakfast or Sunrise pool date.
They're all strong people, dealt a terrible hand. But it's to love, and to be with, in sickness and in health.
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