The Life Of Nancy Reagan

𝓐𝓼𝓼𝓲𝓷𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓐𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓶𝓹𝓽

"The day had started out just as any other. Ronnie and I had both gotten up early and had breakfast together. We both had business to attend to during the day. He had a speaking engagement to attend while I had lunch in to attend at one of the local art galleries. After breakfast, we took a short walk around the Rose Garden, said our goodbyes, and went on our ways. In the middle of the lunch in, I had this tingling feeling inching up me that I had to get back to the White House.  At the time, I knew nothing of the shooting. When I arrived back at the White House, I went up to the Solarium. There was a lot of work being done there. George, the head of my detail beckoned for me to come to the bottom. That's when he broke the news to me, but he didn't think it was necessary for me to go to the hospital. But I put my foot down and made it clear to him that hell or high water, I was going to that hospital because I needed to see Ronnie. When I arrived at the hospital, there was a lot of press and a lot of noise. I was lead to a small room that only had a desk and two chairs. That was it. They told me that he was okay, but I couldn't see him. But if he was okay, why couldn't I see him? Finally, they let me see him. He was lying there with the thing over his face that was helping him breathe. Lifting it up, he said to me "Honey I forgot to duck.."  Later on I was moved to a bigger room above with TVs. A nurse kept coming in and informing me the progress on Ronnie's surgery. The bullet was only about an inch away from his heart. Every time they thought they had it, somehow it was just slip away. At one point, the nurse told me that they may just have to keep the bullet in him. Well of course that didn't sound like a good idea to me at all. Eventually, a great doctor who had been up all night with another patient had been able to get the bullet out out of Ronnie. When Ronnie was finally in recovery, I went in to see him again. When I saw him, his face drained of color, a tube in his throat to help him breathe, all that equipment attached to his body, I just started to cry. "I love you.." I said as I held onto his arm. He eventually opened up his eyes, and I knew at that moment he was going to make it. Ronnie had always been a fighter through everything. Coming back to the White House that night, I went in and got one of his shirts and slept with it. The bed seemed so empty that night, and that same feeling remained every night until Ronnie came home.."