Walking into the shadows

They were married for something like fifty years. Theirs was one of those Love at first sight stories. Like two peas in a pod, they were never apart.

When he had heart complication, she was with him all the time, fussing and worrying, all of the 45 days he was at the hospital. It was a happy occasion when he was finally discharged but that happiness was short-lived. She was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. The chemotherapy treatment went well. For fifteen days, their hopes were high. They made plans to travel before she turned feverish. The fever came and went for a week. She was finally admitted into the hospital where the fever worsen. She died on the following day.

He was devastated. He searched the hospital for a door, any door. He was going to jump.

They took her body home. He stationed himself by her side. He wept as he sang her love songs.

I was touched by his story. In this time and age, married couples do not stay married for long and divorce rates were astounding.  Will he survive his grief? I am inclined to think not.  He didn't. He walked into the shadows last night. He was not my biological brother but he was almost as good as one.

I am reminded of another story I read about in the papers when I was posted to the east. The story goes that Mr Judge lost his wife. He wrote her a poem after her death and sent it to the papers. The poem was published. On the following day, he shot himself in the head because he couldn't handle the grief.

Death and Taxes.  In Life, Nothing Is Certain but Death and Taxes.