Sunday, October 5, 2014

A Toast to Love and Wedded Bliss

Last Friday, my husband’s 96-year-old grandmother eloped with her 99-year-old boyfriend.

Friday. October 3, 2014. My husband’s 96-year-old grandmother married her 99-year-old boyfriend.


They wanted to keep their marriage on the down-low. Technically, I’m breaking a family trust by telling this story, but I can’t help it. So the names and locations are omitted to keep confidence.

Their marriage, whether they believe so or not, is a celebration of hope and acceptance. Due to their ages, they are probably more aware of their finite future together than any other newly-married couple in America. And they took the plunge anyway.

When one encounters beauty in this world, the kind of beauty that shakes one at the core and brings one to one’s knees, one cannot keep it bottled up. I cannot keep this bottled up. I have to share.

Because love this beautiful is too powerful to keep on the-down-low.

I have only been in Grandma’s life a little over ten years. But during those years, I never once felt like I didn't belong in her family. She accepted me straight-up with open arms and a welcome home.

And what I have learned from her in those ten years cannot be quantified. She’s the most amazing person that I am privileged to know.

Grandma is fond of military men – her first marriage was to an Army man, the second to a Navy pilot who survived Pearl Harbor -- and her new husband is no exception. Her now-husband was a Rear-Admiral in World War II and for a time during his military career, he worked at the Pentagon. His dry sense of humor is still quick and sharp, and he still enjoys a finger or two of a fine whiskey neat.

I want it known that I admire Grandma beyond measure. I know of the tragedies that have painted her life with devastating sorrow, the kind of sorrows that most would never recover from and no one would blame them for it. Yet, she is the phoenix that rises from the ashes, more radiant and glorious than ever.

And her husband I am equally in awe of. Again, open-hearted and accepting, from the first moment I met him. A man who knows the price of sacrifice, a man who made the call again and again, knowing that his decisions impacted the lives of his men in the Pacific Theater and the lives their loved-ones back home.

They don’t make men like him anymore.  His breed is so rare that I wonder how I could possibly be so fortunate to have met him. And I get to call him Grandpa now.

My heart is so full: I’m having difficulty finding the words I want to say, or even the words I should be saying. I only know that words must be said.

A toast to the happy couple, who represent hope and heroism in their truest, purest form, an inspiration to all; May God continue to bless and keep you, and give you a thousand years of happiness each and every day.

4 comments:

  1. This is every good thing, every hopeful feeling, every reason for a hopeFUL romantic like me to keep on believing.

    CONGRATULATIONS to them and to you. Being in the presence of that kind of love is a miracle. XO

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    1. Thanks Kir!

      I'm still so word-tied. They truly are amazing people, strong people, and then as a couple? I don't think there's anything they can't accomplish together.

      The public servant who married them gushed about them. The restaurant afterwards comped meals and the staff took pictures with them. Truly it was a very, very happy and special day.

      Thanks for stopping by and leaving your good wishes. I promise to pass them along! XOXO

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  2. It's been a dog's age since I've done the rounds to catch up on blogs, but what a day to do it, and then to find this absolutely gorgeous story. Congratulations to the happy couple, and may love continue to conquer all!

    On a practical note, after a long, hard year in which I have disappointed any number of people, I am catching up on a to-do list very near to my heart. Sy and Brian are making me very happy, and I can't wait to work out the whodunnit.

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    1. So good to see you Cam! Isn't life crazy? I know it's been kicking my butt lately. But don't worry, you'd have to do something catastrophically perverse in order to come close to disappointing me. :)

      The newly weds are doing fine and will be throwing a party come January, when the groom turns 100. 100! I swear these two have a busier social calendar than most teenagers I know!

      I'm so very thrilled that Sy and Brian are bringing you some cheer. They were so much fun to write. I've got another adventure for them that's partially complete, so I'm looking forward to getting the next title out. Well, that and the next adventures with Adam and December, Patience and Mr. Grayson, Mitch and Ivy, Cavimi Astimio and his djinn, and Sticky and his friends....

      I've got a lot on my plate. Now if I could just find some focus...

      Thank you again for stopping by. I'll pass along your well wishes to the bride and groom. I hope you enjoy Trouble With Henry as much as I enjoyed writing it!

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