Loved, Completely

     She lies down beside me in bed and I reach for the telephone and play Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me by Mel Carter, and we sing it together. Then we go on to Saturday Night at the Movies by the Drifters. I play My Girl by The Temptations and when we get to the those words in the song, she bellows out, My Guy. It is a ritual we repeat often.
     Sometimes, she dances for me to the music or we dance together to Mel Carter. That line, "They never stood in the dark with you love, when you take me in your arms and drive me totally out of my mind," and the scent of her hair, with her body pressed against me, is almost more than I can emotionally handle. I want, terribly, to cry.
     Sometimes the singing goes on for half an hour while we hold hands or I turn and put my arm around her. Then I say something that is so arrogant that I dare not allow anyone but her to hear, "We are so lucky to have found each other." I qualify that to make sure that I have not said that she is lucky to have found me. I am not that arrogant.
    Walking around in our yard, holding hands, I stop and turn to her and say, "We did it didn't we  Sarah?" I do not have to further explain myself for she immediately says, "Yes we did." Those visions of a good life, of children of strong character and positive outlook on life, of good friends, of helping build a community so that our children could benefit from the lives of others worthy of teaching them, of grandchildren given a great start in life, and of daughter-in-laws who loved our sons and shared their visions, all of that happened.
     How fortunate I and we have been. It is at this point that many would go into how God did it all and how all the glory goes to Him. The part about the glory going elsewhere, I have no problem with that. But, God gave Sarah and I free will and souls that no one was to enslave. He sat us free to make on this Earth the best that we had to offer. I do not want to disturb my religious friends but God did not do the day to day work that Sarah and I put into this life. He opened the door, but we had to walk through, and it is in not doing that that so many fail.
      But, for a love to grow into what Sarah and I have, there is another element of our mutual lives that had to be nurtured daily. You see, love and good fortune has to be shared with others or it is only a self serving game we are playing. Having both taught school for twelve years, we started out with a desire to share our lives with others, so it was no stretch to let that part of our mutual lives grow and become an integral part of our union.
     And, it is not just working through the Optimist Club or church, it is a total commitment to share with others wherever we are. It often takes the role of making a waiter or waitress know that they are special people. It is about getting someone we meet along the road to talk about their children and grandchildren. It is finding people who need our help and jumping in with all four feet. It all makes the bond between Sarah and I much stronger, and adds a lot of fun to our lives.
     So, when she lies down beside me tonight, there is nothing about her nor nothing about me that the other is not a part. We really are one, and that oneness is a feeling that no one can understand unless they have such a relationship. It is worth spending a life to build. It is as close to Heaven as we get on this Earth.