Love Everlasting

Tonight’s a tough one. Hosting a family dinner tonight to acknowledge my parent’s 65th wedding anniversary. Unless there is some sort of miracle, this will be their last wedding anniversary due to illness and disease.

I have been looking through old family recipes to look for favorites to prepare for dinner. This simple task is bringing up both heart warming and grief triggering memories. Tears are flowing, which I am sure is healthy, but not actually helpful at the moment.

Reliving my past 50+ years with them, I am reminded that Mom and Dad have been a true testament to what marriage should look like, and we have been incredibly fortunate to witness their modeling of friendship and support for each other. Dad has stated that he doesn’t want to leave Mom here when he goes, and Mom is quite clear that she doesn’t want to be here without him. Sometimes I think she is doing all she can to beat him out of here. My prayer for them is that regardless of who transitions first, they are reunited again quickly. Neither of them fears death, and they both have faith in God and the afterlife.

Maybe I have tonight’s dinner all wrong. Rather than wallow in the grief of trying to hold onto memories, and recipes, of the past, maybe the focus should be on celebrating all that they have been and created together. Looking back, not in grief, but in awe and appreciation. More of a celebration that these two souls will always be together, first in our earthly realm and later in the spiritual realm, their love a testament for the rest of us to aspire to.