Randy Travis’ Wife on Their Marriage: ‘He’s an Angel’
Randy Travis the singer became Randy Travis the stroke patient and then Randy Travis the miracle with a big assist from his wife (but at the time fiancee), Mary. What is Randy Travis "the husband" like?
Speaking with Taste of Country about the "Better Class of Losers" singer's memoir, Forever and Ever, Amen: A Memoir of Music, Faith, and Braving the Storms of Life, Mary Travis (and author Ken Abraham) bring fans up to speed about the legend's recovery and continued physical therapy nearly six years after a heart virus set off a series of medical events that included a stroke, pneumonia, multiple surgeries and an-almost-heart transplant before Mary stepped in. The book chronicles it all, including the financial troubles Travis now finds himself facing with no disability insurance and no idea where money he'd thought he'd saved went.
But fear is not the look on this couple's face as they sit alongside one each other — it's gratitude.
"The doctors had pretty much given up on Randy and then that moment when Mary is confronted with the doctor saying 'Pull the plug,'" Abraham says, "and she comes to Randy and says, 'Randy do you want to keep fighting?' And she sees that tear come down that face and she knew there was still a fighter in there. And then he squeezed her hand!"
In many ways, Forever and Ever, Amen: A Memoir of Music, Faith, and Braving the Storms of Life (May 14) is a cautionary tale as much as it is a story of survival and redemption. Contrasting his financial storm is the peace that comes from a life with Mary, a woman he's known for nearly 30 years but didn't become romantic with until their respective marriages were falling apart. Outsiders see Mary as his voice and caretaker, but that overlooks the at-times very normal relationship they have. They bicker and laugh together and watch TV and cry.
"He's a warrior. He's an angel," Mary says when asked what Randy is like as a husband. "When you go through life and you have someone that is so dear to you that can tell you every day how much that they love you and how special you are, how pretty you are — thank you for this, thank you for that — you take that for granted. It's one of those things I often tell people, I say 'Listen fast, talk slow.' I wish I'd listened faster to his stories because he has so many great stories."
While the new memoir gives him a chance to tell these stories, he's clearly not satisfied, as you'll see at the beginning of the above video. He wants to sing and converse and say, "I love you" again and again.
"But he can't do that in words like most people can, but it's so precious how loved I feel by him in his silence," she says. "The love language we've developed is heart-to-heart and he'll tell me 'I love you' in the best way that he can. It's just the look in the eye, the touch of a hand. It's those precious things that I think we take 'em for granted when we're healthy and whole."
Watch: Randy Travis Sings:
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