Til Death Do They Part

This morning, while parked at a stoplight, I experienced a moment that was outside of time, and which touched me rather deeply.

A classic American car drove by, and in it sat a couple, at least 80 years old. What touched me so much was how together they looked, and how much time they had clearly spent together. The window into their world was like looking at a little bit of heaven on earth.

There they were, as wrinkled as they could be, but dressed up for driving. She had a scarf over her head (despite it's being a closed car) and a co-ordinated suit, while he was wearing a fedora and a sports coat. They were smiling and talking, probably sharing some little family joke, and for all I know, they were probably holding hands on the seat.

I thought back to what it must have been like the first time she ever got in his car back in the 40's. She would have gaily tied her kerchief over her head to keep her perfectly done hair in place while they went driving in the open car, skipped down the walkway to the car, hopped up into the passenger seat, and flashed her man a smile as he closed the door after her. He probably grinned a little to himself, straightened his coat as he came around the front of the car, and flashed her an equally beguiling smile as he slid in behind the wheel. And then they were off. . .for the rest of their lives. And there they were again today, just as happy looking as they would have been their first day together, doing just the same things they did back then, only a little bit slower......

and slower until the day when Love Himself will take them to be with Him.

Surely trial has touched them as it touches all of us; undoubtedly difficulties presented themselves with frequency along their roads. However, they weathered it all, and they did it with grace, and with love. It is indeed a many-splendored thing, when love has been lived well and truly!