Sheer exhaustion pulled the man to his feet and dragged him to his bedroom. His shoulders sagged under an unseen weight. He pulled back the covers as anguish and shock slid between the sheets, spent emotions falling to the floor.
It had happened so quickly. It seemed as if thirty-five years spiraled into a spinning vortex. The whirlwind tossed memories round and round. And then, as quickly as it spun, it came to a stop – a dreaded sudden stop.
Loneliness swept over the tired figure of a man who lay still and depleted of strength. He fell into a semblance of sleep and woke with the realization that it had not been just a bad dream. No, it was real.
Now what? Could he go through the motions demanded of the day and the days ahead? Would the pain ever ease?
Everywhere he looked, he saw her – or glimpses of her. He had tried to give her the things she wanted. Sure, they had moments of disagreement, as every couple on their journey of marriage. Their years together had been worth it all. The companionship and love shared through joys and tears had been spent well. He would willingly pay the price again.
He no longer stepped over the oxygen lifeline she had sometimes used. He no longer would go to town to grab her favorite burger to satisfy her taste. He no longer would relinquish the tv remote to her control. He no longer would discuss the world’s events or laugh with her over the antics and pictures of the grandkids.
Where did the time go? It too, had been swallowed into the whirlpool that spun out of control as it consumed the last grain of sand in the hourglass. One marriage ended with “until death do us part.”
Just a couple of days before, another couple stood on the brink of marriage. A ceremony filled with tender, sweet, innocent love was performed before witnesses as newlyweds began their life’s journey together. They made that same vow, “until death do us part.” The course of life continues – one marriage closes a chapter – another begins.
Though we don’t understand why things happen as they do, it is a blessing to close a chapter filled with love and devotion and know, “it was worth it all.”
