Grieving Kindred Love

The night that changed everything.  Some love stories begin with grand plans.  Ours began with chance...and a dinner invitation.  It was 1962 and I was just 18, still discovering who I was and what life might hold.  He was 23, already carrying a quiet confidence that seemed to set him apart from everyone else in the room.  We met through my cousin, who had no idea that a simple introduction would shape the next 63 years of our lives.  That evening, we gathered at the Diamond BBQ Restaurant in Ottawa.  I can still picture it - the soft hum of conversation, the clinking of dishes, the ordinary setting that held an extraordinary moment waiting to unfold.  And then I saw him....he was walking toward our table and something in the way he carried himself made time feel as if time slowed.  I remember thinking so clearly, so instinctively "he is walking like he owns the whole world".  There was a presence about him - calm, assured, yet warm - that drew me in even before we spoke.  What I didn't know then that in that very same moment, he saw me too.  He would later tell me that he fell in love right then - captivated not by anything grand, but simply by my smile.  From that evening on, something quietly powerful started to grow between us.  We didn't just fall in love, we became each others world.  Through the years, life unfolded in all its beauty and challenges.  We build a life side by side, had 3 beautiful children, we shared dreams, laughter, and even the difficult moments that tested us.  But through it all, one thing never wavered - the promises we made to each other on our Honeymoon.  Promises to stay. Promises to love. Promises to choose each other, again and again.  And we kept them.  For 63 years, love wasn't just something we felt - it was something we lived every single day.  It showed up in small gestures the quiet understanding, the way we stood by each other no matter what came our way.  From that chance meeting in that restaurant to his very last breath, our love endured - steady, faithful, and true.  Some might call it luck.  Others might call it faith.  I simply call it the Greatest Gift of My Life.