A Love for the Ages

He met her in 1953. He was twenty-two and just beginning his military career, he had no desire to settle down. She was forty-two, cynical and expecting nothing more from life than a bushel of lemons. Their age difference was not common for their time and the odds were stacked against them. Sometimes however there is nothing on this earth that can stand between a couple and true love.

They were soon married and what a beautiful couple they made; him in his dress uniform and her in a beautiful bridal gown. They honeymooned on the Carolina coast not far from where they had met.

She was content being the wife of a military man. He was everything she had dreamed of and assumed that at her age had passed her by. He was strong but gentle. He was handsome but not conceited. He was smart but not overbearing. He climbed the ranks without leaving bodies on the ladder behind him.

For his part he had never expected to marry. He always believed he was one who was destined to bachelorhood. However when the time came he embraced marriage with more enthusiasm than he had thought possible. The love he held for her grew beyond the confines of his heart. His love for her grew beyond space and time. His love for her he soon realized was infinite.

Children were never part of the plan. He realized this when they married. The fifties were a time of great scientific breakthroughs but it was not a time where it was deemed safe for a woman in her forties to have a child for the first time. He accepted this without question and they built there life together just the two of them.

He retired from the military as a Lieutenant General with pride, honor and his sweetheart by his side. They retired to a small Southern California community where they lived in solitary tranquility. On weekends they would walk hand in hand to a nearby lake where they would picnic on the shore. Maybe they would read together, discuss the day, or maybe they would just lay in the sun two people finding comfort in their silent thoughts.

When she turned ninety she developed emphysema and began a long but steady decline. He was there by her side each and every step. He drove her to the doctors, picked up her medicines and took over all of the household chores. At first his cooking left a lot to be desired but soon he was able to whip up basic dishes with ease.

As her condition worsened she needed to take oxygen on a regular basis. She grew to weak to manage the stairs in their home so each morning he carried her down stairs and each evening he carried her back up. He fed her and he bathed her. He combed her hair and massaged her limbs. If the weather was nice he would carry out on to the patio. There he would sit on a big cushioned rocker with her on his lap. He would gently rock her back and forth while quietly singing old standards. His love and devotion never wavered.

No one was expecting him to leave the earth first, least of all his lovely bride. However one morning he carried her downstairs, sat her on the couch. Turned to go fix her breakfast and dropped then and there from a massive stroke. After fifty years of marriage she was alone once again.

At his memorial a lot of tears were shed for him. None of them were hers. When asked she simply said there was no need to mourn because she would be seeing him again before to long. Two months later she joined her beloved on the other side. Together again for all eternity.