The First Five Years of Forever

Today's our five year anniversary!  How crazy is that?  This picture is from the weekend we got engaged.  Easter weekend, 2007.  He wrote me that the Friday he proposed and I said yes was "indeed Good Friday".

Rewind to the weekend we fell in love.  Valentine's weekend 2007.  We were supposed to fly with his sister to Florida where I would *gasp* be meeting ALL the extended family at his grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary shindig.  But there was a huge snowstorm and our flight through NYC was grounded.  So we chose instead to go to Cape Cod.  My first trip out to the home he grew up in.

I got my hair cut kind of short that weekend.  Jesse took me to the salon and waited patiently as I got my hair done.  He read from a newspaper... and he tore out a little article.  After I was done getting my hair cut I asked him what he had and he smiled craftily and wouldn't show it to me.  Not yet.  


Fast forward to yesterday... when I was reading through my box of letters and cards we've written each other.  And I found the worn article from the hair salon.  And I cried as I read it again...


"The silver-haired man extended his arm as his wife gently laid her coat upon it.  He stood at full attention until she rested comfortably in her seat.  Then he folded the coat neatly beside him while his wife followed his movements with her eyes.  She smiled softly.  They did not speak again until he pulled out a crisp $10 bill and slid it under his coffee cup.


His steak had been a little tough.  She had taken his plate and cut the pieces into manageable bites.  He nodded at her.  Again she smiled softly.  


In between they held an entire conversation without speaking a word. Was it 50 years?  60?  It really didn't matter.  It was a lifetime ago.  Neither could imagine their life without the other. 


Were they young once?  Did he find the courage to ask her to dance?  Did they steal a kiss under a sky as placid as a lake at midnight?  Did he bow to one knee and tell her the secrets that men hide in the caverns of their hearts?  


Did they fall in love the first time their eyes met?  Was she coy?  Did he court her with flowers and letters and winks from across the room?  


Did she cry on her wedding day?  Did she ever look more beautiful to him?  


He touched his wedding band several times, rubbing it gently like a caress on a baby's face.  Her hand shook as she sipped her water.  He raised his napkin to his chin and then she did the same.  


Did they ever keep score?  Did they count times their feelings were hurt?  Did they argue about money?  Did they share each other's dreams?  Did he ever think about leaving her:  Did she ever think about leaving him?


How did they do it?  How did they remain as one when marriages collapsed all around them?  Did they ever stray?  Did they ever think about it?  Did they know they could keep a secret from each other but never from themselves?  


Was there another life he could have had?  Did she regret not saying yes to the man before?  Was she sill his Valentine?  Was he hers?  Had they grown so old there was nothing left to say to each other?


He waited for her to rise before leaving his seat.  He reached down and delicately lifted her coat.  He opened it for her, and she slid her arms inside.  She tried to button it but her hands shook too much.  


She nodded at him.  He nodded at her.  When he finished the top button, he reached up and touched her cheek with his fingertips.


The never said a word to each other."  


By Robert Slager


Happy Anniversary Jesse.  Even though you swore to your Mom that you would NEVER marry a girl named Jessica, I'm so glad you did ;o)  I nod at you.  You nod at me.  There aren't many other words necessary.

Besides "I love you".  Always will.