romance

Today was their 72 wedding anniversary.  He was sleeping soundly on the bed when I arrived.  But she curled up on the little couch with me and indulged my romantic questionings.  

They met as teenagers, his desk just behind hers in English class.  They planned to go to college and get "all educated" before things got serious.  But then World War II started.  So she bought a pretty blue and white floral dress and they drove with her sister and his cousin to the Justice of the Peace.

Six weeks later he left for training.  Then England, France and Germany.  She didn't see him for four years.  She did what so many other newly married women did at that time -moved back into her parent's house and finished school.  And then he came home!

They bought a house.  They had three children.  They started a business that became a great success.  They traveled and golfed.  They prayed and argued and danced.  They each coped with illness and watched all four parents, one child and many friends pass away.  They became grandparents and great grandparents.  

Now they live in one small room in an Assisted Living Facility.  He tells me how terrible the food is.  She is knitting a yellow scarf.  They hold hands as they talk about trying to find purpose in your life when your life is slipping away.  Their eyes twinkle as they reminisce about life together.

Tonight I thought about them again as I read this beautiful paragraph.  It integrates my chaplain heart with my romance loving soul.  They merge with these words -

Episcopal priest Robert Farrar Capon has said that the Biblical story starts with a breakup and ends with a wedding, and so the history in between is most truly a romance.  Yes, the romance is filled with tragedy and comedy, but it always and at every moment remains at heart a love story, and every moment is a proposal.  The gift of every moment is the Holy Spirit's holy seduction, the tender proposal of God.  "I love you.  Do you love me? Will you join me in at-one-ment, unity, reconciliation, reunion, belonging, membership, love?  Will you accept my proposal and enter into the vital communion of theosis-union with God?" Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!  (Naked Spirituality, Brian McLaren)

*stock picture from google images, but looks like them!