He Loved Her
From the time she was a faded-denim-overall/flannel-shirted-wearing 3rd grader until she was a bell-bottomed-jeans/embroidered-dirndl-top/Afro'd teenager.
When they graduated high school and went their separate, fortune-seeking ways, he loved her.
Hundreds of miles apart, lonely and sad, each let their bucket down into the well of life and drank warily of its contents. Yet, he continued to love her.
Forty years, two marriages apiece, kids and grandkids, he still loved her.
Divorcing, retiring, selling out, cashing in a 401k, moving back down South - home! - the love was still there.
A double wide planted by the side of the road leading to his parents' cemetery, a couple of golden retrievers, a tentative foray into county politics, love for her persisted in laying close to his heart like one of his grandma's sweet-smelling quilts.
Then came the news. Widowed and retired, she was returning to the country - home!
New skirting and awnings for the double wide, flowers and shrubbery for the half acre on which it sat, new appliances and a window box for the herbs she knew and grew so well! He loved her!
Syl
