Love Is Stronger...

Having a goal based on love is the greatest life insurance in the world.  If you had asked my dad why he got up in the morning, you would have found his answer disarmingly simple:   "To make my wife happy."  Mom and Dad met when they were nine.  Every day before school, they met on a park bench with the homework.  Mom corrected Dad's English and he did the same with her math.  Upon graduation, their teachers said that the two of them were the best "student" in the school.  Note the singular!  They took their time building their relationship, even though Dad always knew she was the girl for him.  Their first kiss occurred when they were 17, and their romance continued to grow into their 80s.  Just how much power their relationship created was brought to light in 1964.  The doctor told Dad he had cancer and estimated that he had six months to one year left at the most.  "Sorry to disagree with you, Doc," my father said. "But I'll tell you how long I have. One day longer than my wife.  I love her too much to leave the planet without her."

And so it was, to the amazement of everyone who didn't really know this love-matched pair, that Mom passed away at the age of 85 and Dad followed one year later when he was 86.  Near the end, he told my brothers and me that those 17 years were the best six months he ever spent.  To the wonderful doctors and nurses at the Department of Veterans' Affairs Medical Center at Long Beach, he was a walking miracle.  They kept a loving watch on him and just couldn't understand how a body so riddled with cancer could continue to function so well.  

My dad's explanation was simple. He informed them that he had been a medic in World War I and saw amputated arms and legs, and he had noticed that none of them could think.  So he decided he would tell his body how to behave. Once, as he stood up and it was evident he felt a stabbing pain, he looked down at his chest and shouted, "Shut up! We're having a party here."  

Two days before he left us he said, "Boys, I'll be with your mother very soon and someday, some place we'll all be together again. But take your time about joining us; your mother and I have a lot of catching up to do."  It is said that love is stronger than prison walls.  Dad proved it was a heck of a lot stronger than tiny cancer cells.  

Bob, George and I are still here, armed with Dad's final gift.  A goal, a love and a dream give you total control over your body and your life.   I had a very special teacher in high school many years ago whose husband unexpectedly died suddenly of a heart attack.  About a week after his death, she shared some of her insights with a classroom of students.  As the late afternoon sunlight came streaming in through the classroom windows and the class was nearly over, she moved a few things aside on the edge of her desk and sat down there.  With a gentle look of reflection on her face, she paused and said, "Before class is over, I would like to share with all of you a thought that is unrelated to class, but which I feel is very important.  

Each of us is put here on earth to learn, share, love, appreciate and give of ourselves and none of us knows when this fantastic experience will end.  It can be taken away at any moment.   Perhaps this is God's way of telling us that we must make the most out of every single day."   Her eyes beginning to water, she went on, "so I would like you all to make me a promise...from now on, on your way to school, or on your way home, find something beautiful to notice.  It doesn't have to be something you see -  it could be a scent - perhaps of freshly baked bread wafting out of someone's house, or it could be the sound of the breeze slightly rustling the leaves in the trees, or the way the morning light catches one autumn leaf as it falls gently to the ground.  Please, look for these things, and cherish them. For, although it may sound trite to some, these things are the "stuff" of life.  The little things we are put here on earth to enjoy. The things we often take for granted.  We must make it important to notice them, for at any time...it can all be taken away."

The class was completely quiet.  We all picked up our books and filed out of the room silently.  That afternoon, I noticed more things on my way home from school than I had that whole semester.  Every once in a while, I think of that teacher and remember what an impression she made on all of us, and  I try to appreciate all of those things that sometimes we all overlook.

Take notice of something special you see on your lunch hour today.  Go barefoot.  Or walk on the beach at sunset.  Stop off on the way home tonight to get a double-dip ice-cream cone.  For as we get older, it is not the things we did that we often regret, but the things we didn't do.

Author Unknown