They were seated at the table next to us…(that is where this story begins)
an older couple talking loudly…we couldn’t help but listen in.
The man spoke first “Today we celebrate the day our happiness began.”
The woman closed her eyes and smiled as they sat together hand in hand.
Then she looked over and winked at us…”It’s not what you might think.” she said…
“It’s not a birthday, or the anniversary of the day when we were wed.”
“Instead,” she continued, “we choose to remember a different kind of date.
It was the day we first said I love you to each other…and this we celebrate.”
“Oh I was perfectly happy before I met this woman,” the old man smiled
“And I was perfectly happy before I ever met this man.”
But the day we said, ‘I love you’ to each other…
was the day OUR happiness began.”
“For that is the day we came together,” he said…”the day our worlds aligned…
The day I put my happiness in her hands…and she put hers in mine.”
We shared in their happiness for a moment…shared their joy and their felicity.
We toasted them, wished them well and then we let them be.
They said goodbye as they left the restaurant…still exuding grace and charm
and we watched them drift off down the sidewalk…together arm in arm…
Their story is a story about growing old side by side…
It’s a story of a woman and a man…
who understand one of the keys to a lifetime together
is remembering where their love began.
They were seated at the table next to us…two strangers…
who became our friends…
An older couple talking loudly…
(A love story that never ends)