Quoting Kyndle:

Sometimes the saddest moments for another reveal a truth that is so basically selfish that it startles us. I am envious of a dying woman. She is elderly, unable to take care of herself, sitting in a nursing home. She is attached to machines that help her breath, her weak heart beat, her gray wispy hair in tiny patches now. She looks past this world, past all of the pains she feels and the pity in her families eyes. But beside her, her frail hand is entwined with another equally weather beaten and worn palm. Age spots bare witness to the sunshine of decades, the pulses you assume by now must beat in tandem. His eyes are misted with tears, he is angry she is leaving him. He has taken care of her through all sixty years of their marriage, and she him. They have shared more tears than I have in my short life cried, and more happiness than a hall of children laughing. They have battled the world together, danced together, sat on the couch and just watched Jeapordy together. And yet, she is letting go without him. He wispers still he is there, it is okay, and when she goes he will follow soon. He has been there every day. When she was admitted, he was sure to be able to wake up to eat breakfast by her side, every day. He ate dinner with her every night. He hides that he is also sick, also failing, also so very tired of this world. He just keeps wispering he loves her.

I am not envious of her in a way that I wish I was going, but that I had lived a life that full of love. That amount of dedication.

I know it is out there. She isn't the only one. As lovers age, they are chosing to spend their last days together, side by side in the nursing home, or assisted living envirnment. They are still sharing laughter andd tears, still talking of their children and grand children and of times past and friends lost. They keep each other going. The companionship of decades of friendship, the closeness of lovers and soul mates. And most times they die shortly after each other. I have known them to die within weeks of one another, one finally letting go to follow their true love to what ever awaited them. Or the true love coming to bring them home.

I want a love like that. I want a love that spans decades, not a few months of feverish devotion, followed by awkward endings. I want to look back and have shared memories with my children that included a partner.

Am I foolish?? It can't be all fairy tales. I have seen it. Defying death and hopelessness. Lighting a room full of despair.

Sometimes the saddest moments for another reveal a truth that is so basically selfish that it startles us. I am envious of a dying woman. She is elderly, unable to take care of herself, sitting in a nursing home. She is attached to machines that help her breath, her weak heart beat, her gray wispy hair in tiny patches now. She looks past this world, past all of the pains she feels and the pity in her families eyes. But beside her, her frail hand is entwined with another equally weather beaten and worn palm. Age spots bare witness to the sunshine of decades, the pulses you assume by now must beat in tandem. His eyes are misted with tears, he is angry she is leaving him. He has taken care of her through all sixty years of their marriage, and she him. They have shared more tears than I have in my short life cried, and more happiness than a hall of children laughing. They have battled the world together, danced together, sat on the couch and just watched Jeapordy together. And yet, she is letting go without him. He wispers still he is there, it is okay, and when she goes he will follow soon. He has been there every day. When she was admitted, he was sure to be able to wake up to eat breakfast by her side, every day. He ate dinner with her every night. He hides that he is also sick, also failing, also so very tired of this world. He just keeps wispering he loves her.

I am not envious of her in a way that I wish I was going, but that I had lived a life that full of love. That amount of dedication.

I know it is out there. She isn't the only one. As lovers age, they are chosing to spend their last days together, side by side in the nursing home, or assisted living envirnment. They are still sharing laughter andd tears, still talking of their children and grand children and of times past and friends lost. They keep each other going. The companionship of decades of friendship, the closeness of lovers and soul mates. And most times they die shortly after each other. I have known them to die within weeks of one another, one finally letting go to follow their true love to what ever awaited them. Or the true love coming to bring them home.

I want a love like that. I want a love that spans decades, not a few months of feverish devotion, followed by awkward endings. I want to look back and have shared memories with my children that included a partner.

Am I foolish?? It can't be all fairy tales. I have seen it. Defying death and hopelessness. Lighting a room full of despair.