He showered, shaved and kept thinking of how much he wanted her to trust him, to love him but even though they were tying the knot today she still had her doubts. He dressed in his day tux and if he had to say it himself he looked pretty good but he knew he couldn't look as good as she looked ever.
The limo came on time and brought the men's wedding party to the church where they waited for the Bride to arrive. She was fashionably late but when she entered the church the inside lit up with her beauty. The best part about her was the outer beauty was matched by the inner beauty. There wasn't one person who met her who had anything bad to say about her. She truly brightened up anyone's life that she touched.
The day was perfect. The ceremony was wonderful in the sanctity it brought to their union. The celebration that followed went by too quickly but every time they danced the electricity they shared cruised through their young bodies entering their very souls. They left NYC by plane for a honeymoon in Miami Florida. They then spent about a year in Columbus, Georgia as he was serving out his last year of active duty in the Army.
This morning of 7/27/15 there was no place to go so he let his thoughts go back to that Saturday of 7/27/57.
He thought the number 7 had played a very big role in their life. They lived off post in Georgia and the address was 79 B Victory Drive. When he came home they lived for two years above a Drug Store on Main Street in Port Washington, Nassau County, NY. He had to catch the 7 AM Long Island Railroad to get to work. They had 7 children. Yes the number 7 was always present.
He lay in bed recalling some of the bad times as well as the good times. She always loved the children deeply. He would remind her that eventually they would have to fly the coop and live their own lives and the most important people in our lives would be only us two. She didn't grasp the idea he was putting forth because of her deep love for the children, individually and as a group. Also she didn't exactly believe him when he kept telling her how much he loved her and he would give his life for her if he had to do just that.
They were married 50 years and 6 months when she passed away from complications of Alzheimer's. She was diagnosed some 15 years earlier but she started to show signs much earlier. When he wasn't aware of the progressive disease he was staring to feel she wasn't in love with him anymore. The diagnoses explained some of the things that were happening. He never left her side. Finally she was placed in a Nursing Home. He stayed with her every day from 10 AM till 7 PM, there's that number 7 again. Their love grew even when she stopped recognizing who he was.
He kept his promise made so many years ago and she kept her's as they loved until death, and through eternity. True union is hard to explain, many even children, think they know what goes on between lovers but they don't, only the lovers do. He never regretted any part of their lives, they loved strongly, produced many lives when one included grandchildren and great-grandchildren and they had a chance to be together even when to onlookers thought they were apart. He pulled back the covers and rose from bed. Better to get on with the day he thought and leave the past for another time as there's still plenty of living yet to do.
