Love Remains

     This would have been our 25th Wedding Anniversary. As the day approached I wondered how to mark this day. It is a day the world says no longer exists. Yet is still a day that exists for me and one that I am not quite ready to relinquish. We always celebrated this day together - and therein lies the core of it - the word together. You are still with me, but you are not "here" with me. I have decided that I will mark this day by telling all who read this what a wonderful man you were.
     When you came into my life 25 plus years ago it was for me like the Kenny Rogers song"You Decorated My Life" and you said I did the same for you. Our friends said we made each other sparkle! And my love how I did sparkle in the glow of your love for me.
     You encouraged me in all I attempted. You taught me how to sing and together we sang at weddings and anniversaries and at endless Karaoke shows. You spent money we didn't have on art supplies because you knew I could paint and would spend hours watching me do so. You baked cookies for me to take to work and cooked dinners for me to eat when I got home. You planted flowers in our yard that still remind me of your love for me. You built bookcases, and tables and shelves for our home that I use daily and give me comfort because I know your hands were upon them.
     Most importantly you joined with me to have our daughter. She is such a wonderful testament to our love, She has inherited your woodworking abilities so those saws and routers and hammers of yours are not sitting idle!
     The last year of our life together was so painful because of your illness and the shared knowledge that it would soon cause us to part. During the initial months following your passing I could only focus on that pain and the pain of being left to live life alone and find a new direction now. Today I realized that was only one year of 20 plus years. I have so many more years of joy and love to remember that they are beginning to cause that painful year's memories to fade just a bit. I still flounder at times when I am trying to figure out how to be a widow but you taught me many lessons that have served me well in these last months.
     Two days before you passed you said to me "I want to thank you for all those wonderful years of marriage" I will always remember those words my love. This is my way of saying thank you as well for all those wonderful years of marriage and your unconditional love for me.
     Love remains.