Last night, as I was trying to sleep, memories took me back in time. I remembered the emotions that flooded me when I got off the bus at the R&R center. Jim stood outside the building, and I still remember the elation I felt as we ran toward each other. I was eight hours late, and he was afraid I had changed my mind. My grueling day had involved delays from a bomb scare, a thunderstorm, and a connecting flight held up by a snowstorm. I had missed my own wedding day.
The
next day, a Saturday, we had a new round of delays. We taxied to the mountains
to get a marriage license, and the clerk would not accept my blood test because
it was on an incomplete form. It had all the necessary information, so her husband
took us to a clinic where a doctor transferred the information to a new form. We
had missed the rescheduled appointed wedding time. Jim convinced the chaplain
at Ft. DeRussy Chapel to wait for us. We signed the marriage license, his staff
witnessed our signatures, and left. The army chaplain married us in an empty
chapel.
Last
night, I had flash memories of our short stay in Hawaii. We spent quiet
evenings on the hotel lanai, swam in the frigid Pacific Ocean, lay on the beach
and acquired sunburns, we walked hand-in-hand in Honolulu, and drove to the
north shore to explore other areas of the island.
In the
wee hours of December 25, Jim kissed me goodbye before I boarded a plane for
home, and he flew back to Vietnam. We had no idea what the future would hold in
store for us, or if we would even have a future. Life was uncertain.
As it
turned out, we had many adventures together. We went through tough times, good
times, happy times, sad times, but through it all, we always had love.
It’s
almost scary to love someone so much that you aren’t sure if you can live
without him. It’s beyond sad when a brain disease made his memories drift away
like grains of sand carried into the ocean on the waves of the low tide.
Life
either makes or breaks us. It is true that we don’t know how strong we are
until being strong is the only option. Strength comes from within, bolstered by
the love and support of friends and family.
Memories
can be bittersweet—making us smile and cry at the same time. Love can bring
great pain, but nothing else can make your spirits soar as high. To love life,
you must love—love.
Around
midnight I stopped reminiscing. I turned onto my side with my back to the edge
of the bed, and snuggled into my pillow. I was about to drift off to sleep when
I felt a light touch on my back. It was a gentle reminder that love outlives
our bodies.
Copyright
© December 2021 by L.S. Fisher
http://earlyonset.blogspot.com
#ENDALZ
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