Joyce Carol Oates

That I was sleeping at a time when my husband was dying is so horrible a thought that I can't confront it.

(Raymond Smith, the husband of Joyce Carol Oates for 46 years, died on this date in 2008.  He had been admitted to a Princeton hospital because he had pneumonia, and seemed to be recovering after several days of treatment.  Oates had gone home after visiting him on February 17 and was asleep when she got a call a little after midnight.  By the time she got back to the hospital, he was dead.) 

Raymond Smith and Joyce Carol Oates (1972)