Growing Old With You…

For better or worse…..in sickness and in health…..till death do us part.

Do these words mean anything anymore? Does true love even exist? Some would say yes, others no. It’s so easy to doubt in something like true love if we haven’t experienced it ourselves and we see people getting divorced at a higher rate today than ever before. Is there any hope?

Today I found hope in Mr. and Mrs. Jones. I witnessed a love so deep and so true between these two people that I can only hope that I may one day find the same thing. Mr. and Mrs. Jones met when she was 16 and he was 22, and have been married for the past 55 years. That alone is an incredible accomplishment, but I believe that they love each other more now than they ever have before.  

You see, Mr. Jones is 80 years old now and is suffering from Alzheimer’s, dementia, diabetes, is completely blind in one eye, and can no longer move around or eat on his own. Since last July he has been living in residential care with others who suffer from similar ailments. Mrs. Jones, on the other hand, is in more or less good health for a woman in her 70’s and lives on her own. The man she has loved for the vast majority of her life barely even knows what is going on most of the time, and yet her love for him has not died. Quite the opposite actually, it is very alive and well.

Everyday for most of the day Mrs. Jones goes to the facility where her husband lives to be with him. Everyday she cooks him dinner, brings it to him, and feeds him. She says there has not been a single day since he moved in there last July that she has not gone to see him. Often times she forgets to eat herself, and sleep is harder and harder to come by now that he is not laying there by her side.

For better or worse…..in sickness and in health….till death do us part.

Mrs. Jones is truly living these words. The vows she took 55 years ago are being tested today like never before, and yet her commitment to them is the strongest it has ever been.

Last night Mr. Jones had to go to the hospital because his blood sugar was extremely high. Today Mrs. Jones was by his side, helping him feel the most comfortable, feeding him. Every time Mr. Jones opened his eyes and said a word or phrase we could understand, Mrs. Jones’ face would light up with a huge smile and she would rush over to grab his hand from wherever she was in the room.

That is true love, and I am blessed to have seen it with my own eyes.

The following song by Mark Schultz tells the story of a man who loves his wife from their first date when they were teenagers until her death 60 years later (it reminds me of the popular movie The Notebook).

UNTIL NEXT TIME…