A Love Story

Like this flower, a happy ending can always brighten your day.

I got a text yesterday from one of my high school friends, inviting me to a graduation party for her daughter. I think I must have gasped audibly when I read it because the man sitting across the room from me looked up from his phone. This child who is graduating from high school is her baby.

Let me give you a little background here. This friend is a part of one of my favorite love stories. She and her husband dated all through high school. The winter after high school, they announced a very quick wedding. We were all kind of stunned. I was away at college and couldn’t quite fathom it all. This was the late eighties. We had choices.

They made theirs. They chose life. They chose love. The support they got from their families was overwhelming. Let me tell you, it was amazing. They moved into a tiny house behind her grandmother’s house. Her parents and siblings and his parents painted it inside and out. They put in carpet and furniture. They made it a home.

They both worked and she had to quit school. Her sister kept the baby during the day. It was hard work for them to keep it together, but they did. They moved into a bigger house. About five years later, they welcomed a second child and one year after that, their third.

For our twenty year class reunion, (It was really 18, but that’s another story.) they invited a bunch of us girls, to stay at their new home, that they had just built. It was a gorgeous house in the country complete with a pool and pool house. Again, their families had helped them build it with the many skills that they had from carpentry to laying tile.

Their story is one of my favorite love stories for so many reasons. Yes, it’s a story of a boy and a girl who made difficult choices and made a commitment to stand by each other, for better or worse. They went on to make a beautiful life together and beautiful children against impossible odds. But, it’s also a story of the possibilities of what can happen when families pull together and support each other. It’s a story of two families who chose life and love too, although it must have been a difficult choice for them as well.

We have so many choices to make during our lifetimes. We make good ones and we make bad ones. Sometimes encouraging and supporting loved ones in their choices are the most important ones we ever make. I was thrilled to attend the high school graduation celebration of my friend’s first child. He has gone on to finish college and has become a delightful young man.

Now, I have been invited to attend the graduation celebration of her youngest child who is also going on to college. I am moved to tears at the enormity of it all. The impossibility of this story just proves that with enough commitment and perseverance, love will find a way and it’s beautiful.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂