Happily Ever After

I find great joy in spending quality time with my grandparents. They are the example of a simple, loving couple I keep at the forefront of my mind. Sometimes, I walk a few steps behind them, so that I might catch a glimpse of unfailing and true love. I know it sounds trite, but true love really exists. I see it in the way my grandfather holds my grandma's hand while they are walking. I see it written on his face when my grandma returns from a trip to town. When they sit side-by-side on the sofa reading the morning paper, or share a bowl of ice cream on the front porch, it's there. Their home is brimming with love and you feel it immediately upon entering their home. It is a marriage and home built by love. Unconditional and faithful love. I have always said that the couple who suffers together, stays together. Individual hardship is a long, unpaved road filled with wrong turns. Shared hardship unities a couple and prepares them for the endurance required to keep love and God at the center of their life. The beauty of seeing two lives become one life, is a miracle in itself. My grandparents will never make a list of most beautiful couples "as reported by People magazine", but their example has touched my soul to the core. If you ask either of my grandparents how they have stayed married for so long, they will tell you this. "Keep God at the center of your marriage, respect each other, and love more than you expect to be loved."

These last few years, I have seen them both age significantly. Sometimes, my heart skips a beat when they call, for fear it will be the call that ends this love story on earth. I see two smiling old people with care-worn faces laughing at their grandchildren. When they look at each other, I wonder if they see the same thing. Or does my grandpa see a 5- foot tall, 16- year old girl with raven hair and blue eyes sitting on the steps of her school? Does my grandma see her fiance in Army blues stepping off a plane, after being gone for 3 years? One day, when their time here has passed, I will share "their story" with my children. I will always carry them and their love to my marriage and family, so that we may have our own "happily ever after".