Sooner or Later It's Over
I'd Give up Forever to Touch You
"Do you, Colette Bellamy take this man to be your lawful wedded husband?"
"I do."
"And do you Sebastien Bellerose take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife?"
"I do."
"Then, with the power vested in me I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride..."
"Your first kiss of married life is shared not only with your spouse, but with your friends and your family. So is your first dance, your first meal, your first drink, and your first piece of cake. It is lucky for most people then, that the friends and family they surround themselves with on the day of their wedding are the people that they most want to share those moments with. It is especially important, however, to have a spouse that you want to share every moment with. That could possibly be the single most needed aspect to marriage, the perfect partner. I'm not saying that they honestly have to be perfect, Hell, we all have our flaws. But they must make an excellent match with you. Not to say that you should be exactly alike, that is the complete opposite of what I'm saying. I am also, however, not saying that you should be entirely different. I believe for a marriage to work properly, you must be two sides of the same coin."
He pauses to take a shaky breath and adjust his glasses. He looks out at the small ground gathered in the grass before him and offers a small smile before resuming his speech.
"When you and your spouse are the two sides of one coin, you are plenty of other things too. You are oil and water when they are put in a bigger mixture, you are yin and yang, you are the sun and moon; basically, you are two halves to one whole. Maybe all of your interests aren't the same, you like rock but she likes jazz for example, but when you come together you mesh into one previously incomplete being. To some, this may not make any sense and it probably won't until you've been married for as long as I have. For others you'll know exactly what it is I'm talking about so you'll understand when I tell you that my wife completed me."
"When I first saw Colette she knocked the wind right out of me. My heart skipped a beat and for a moment I stopped breathing. She was smiling at me with a notepad in her hand and it took me a few minutes to realize she was expecting me to order something. She was beautiful. Her hair was pulled back in an array of chestnut curls and hr eyes were the bluest thing I'd ever seen. So I gave her my order, thinking to myself that I just wanted her to know who I was. Every day after that I went back to the little diner just for the chance to meet her. Eventually I worked up the courage to ask her out and she said yes. After two years of dating I took her to diner where we first met, she wasn't working there any more but she recognized it. After dinner I got down on one knee and I proposed. Her face lit up and she gave me the widest smile I've ever seen and she, once again, said yes."
"When I saw her walking down the aisle on our wedding day all I could think was that it was the closest to heaven I'd ever be. She made a stunning bride. And every day afterwards, when I looked at her I saw my stunning bride. Even when she was lying in that hospital bed, she was still my bride."
He takes off his glasses, his vision is now too blurred by tears for them to be of any use. For the first time, he looks over at the black coffin that has an array of white roses on top of it. His whole body begins to feel heavy, as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
"I had fifty years with my beautiful bride, and there came a point where I knew that sooner or later it would be over."
He pauses, fiddles with a loose string that he can't see but has long known it was there, and takes a deep breath.
"Last night I went back to the diner, surprisingly it's still in business after all of these years, and I ordered the same thing I did on the night I met Colette. The waitress was a bouncy blonde girl with green eyes, and she didn't stop my heart or take my breath away. In life we learn about loss, and my loss may not be as great as someone else's, but my loss hurts. However, Colette's death isn't just my loss. It's all of our losses. Colette was such an easy person to love, she was a wonderful wife, a great friend, and she had the biggest heart I'd ever seen. We never had children of our own but she always welcomed them to stop by and pay her a visit. Not to mention she kept adopting stray animals." There was a small, collective chuckle at this. "My wife will be missed among us, but she's still my sweetheart." He stepped away from the podium and walked over to the coffin. Looking down at the tears that were gathering in a pool on the black surface, he placed a hand gently on the lid.
"I'd give up forever, just to touch you." And it's his last farewell.
Every week, on Wednesday night, he goes to the diner and props up her picture. He orders the same thing he did all those years ago, eats half of it, and smiles gently at the photograph of his beautiful bride.
"I do."
"And do you Sebastien Bellerose take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife?"
"I do."
"Then, with the power vested in me I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride..."
"Your first kiss of married life is shared not only with your spouse, but with your friends and your family. So is your first dance, your first meal, your first drink, and your first piece of cake. It is lucky for most people then, that the friends and family they surround themselves with on the day of their wedding are the people that they most want to share those moments with. It is especially important, however, to have a spouse that you want to share every moment with. That could possibly be the single most needed aspect to marriage, the perfect partner. I'm not saying that they honestly have to be perfect, Hell, we all have our flaws. But they must make an excellent match with you. Not to say that you should be exactly alike, that is the complete opposite of what I'm saying. I am also, however, not saying that you should be entirely different. I believe for a marriage to work properly, you must be two sides of the same coin."
He pauses to take a shaky breath and adjust his glasses. He looks out at the small ground gathered in the grass before him and offers a small smile before resuming his speech.
"When you and your spouse are the two sides of one coin, you are plenty of other things too. You are oil and water when they are put in a bigger mixture, you are yin and yang, you are the sun and moon; basically, you are two halves to one whole. Maybe all of your interests aren't the same, you like rock but she likes jazz for example, but when you come together you mesh into one previously incomplete being. To some, this may not make any sense and it probably won't until you've been married for as long as I have. For others you'll know exactly what it is I'm talking about so you'll understand when I tell you that my wife completed me."
"When I first saw Colette she knocked the wind right out of me. My heart skipped a beat and for a moment I stopped breathing. She was smiling at me with a notepad in her hand and it took me a few minutes to realize she was expecting me to order something. She was beautiful. Her hair was pulled back in an array of chestnut curls and hr eyes were the bluest thing I'd ever seen. So I gave her my order, thinking to myself that I just wanted her to know who I was. Every day after that I went back to the little diner just for the chance to meet her. Eventually I worked up the courage to ask her out and she said yes. After two years of dating I took her to diner where we first met, she wasn't working there any more but she recognized it. After dinner I got down on one knee and I proposed. Her face lit up and she gave me the widest smile I've ever seen and she, once again, said yes."
"When I saw her walking down the aisle on our wedding day all I could think was that it was the closest to heaven I'd ever be. She made a stunning bride. And every day afterwards, when I looked at her I saw my stunning bride. Even when she was lying in that hospital bed, she was still my bride."
He takes off his glasses, his vision is now too blurred by tears for them to be of any use. For the first time, he looks over at the black coffin that has an array of white roses on top of it. His whole body begins to feel heavy, as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
"I had fifty years with my beautiful bride, and there came a point where I knew that sooner or later it would be over."
He pauses, fiddles with a loose string that he can't see but has long known it was there, and takes a deep breath.
"Last night I went back to the diner, surprisingly it's still in business after all of these years, and I ordered the same thing I did on the night I met Colette. The waitress was a bouncy blonde girl with green eyes, and she didn't stop my heart or take my breath away. In life we learn about loss, and my loss may not be as great as someone else's, but my loss hurts. However, Colette's death isn't just my loss. It's all of our losses. Colette was such an easy person to love, she was a wonderful wife, a great friend, and she had the biggest heart I'd ever seen. We never had children of our own but she always welcomed them to stop by and pay her a visit. Not to mention she kept adopting stray animals." There was a small, collective chuckle at this. "My wife will be missed among us, but she's still my sweetheart." He stepped away from the podium and walked over to the coffin. Looking down at the tears that were gathering in a pool on the black surface, he placed a hand gently on the lid.
"I'd give up forever, just to touch you." And it's his last farewell.
Every week, on Wednesday night, he goes to the diner and props up her picture. He orders the same thing he did all those years ago, eats half of it, and smiles gently at the photograph of his beautiful bride.
♠ ♠ ♠
So, a friend of mine posted this article on Facebook about a man who continued to "take his wife to lunch" after she died by bringing her photograph to the table. Apparently the couple had been married for fifty-five years, though they'd known each other for sixty-five. They fell in love and were separated by the war, once he came home he searched for her until one day he told his barber the story about how he loved this girl. The barber in turn, tells his daughter who just so happens to be the girl and so they were reunited after ten years. The story brought to mind, for me, the quintessential love story. That absolutely heartwarming moment where a couple who find themselves being really meant for each other, actually get to be together. Not to mention the fact that after fifty-five long years, she was still his sweetheart. It's simply lovely.So, this story came forth from the tips of my fingers, with the idea that after a great many years, anyone could still be someone's sweetheart.
Also, the italics are his memories.