Many years devoted to each other and the vows we had taken on this very day lasted for a long time. It is February 14, 1987 and on this day, there was something special. Fifty-two years have passed and I am still with the same person who won my heart and was my lover along with my best friend.

This day may also be our last days together because Charlie and I have been diagnosed with cancer.  It had been hard to believe, but every doctor had told us the same thing and that was we both did not have long.  I had to just deal with it and I know if it was in God’s will then I could learn to accept it.

The last days had meant a lot to the two of us. Charlie had been planning something special for us.  I myself had been developing something for him. It’s a letter, but it is not like any other, it may be the last words I ever get to say. 

 “Charlie,

Fifty-two wonderful years have passed. I remember the first time I had set my eyes on you. It was mid-summer in Paris, France of 1934. I’d been sitting at one of the greatest restaurants waiting for a friend, then I glanced over at you. Your beautiful blond hair and sparkling blue eyes were shining in the sun’s rays. Then you looked over at me. I smiled and you started to walk over towards me. We talked and got to know each other. As the rest of that year and the beginning of the next, we became one.  On this same day 1935, we took our vows inside a Gothic styled church in Germany. The church was beautiful. We moved in together on a beach in South Carolina. Today, I just look at the past and I cannot think of the future. I also think of now; we never know when the life we share will end but I want to let you know I love you. A day doesn’t go by I don’t think about our life together then and now. Nothing has changed but our love has grown.  The years I have spent with you are the years that I cherish the most. I love you and I always will”.

 I had placed the letter into an envelope and labeled it “to my dearest husband”.  Then Charlie walks in and states “Come on I’m ready for you”.  I walk towards him with the letter in my left hand. He covers my eyes with his gentle hands and say’s it’s a surprise.  Then we stop, I look down and I see a blanket with rose petals.   We sit together on the beach and talk about the past. Together, we watch the sunset and it was beautiful as it painted the sky with pastel colors.  The sounds of the ocean waves hitting the shore may the moment even better.  We lie together and he whispers in my ear “I love you” with the letter in his hands.