Why Stay?

Warning:  Today’s blog is completely unrelated to cats.  Yes, apparently my world revolves around them and their needs, but sometimes the people world needs a little airtime too.  The cats are alive and well and will be back tomorrow.

                I witnessed a beautiful thing this week--something so precious that I couldn’t let it pass without sharing it.  In today’s disposable society, when marriage and commitment and vows seem to be almost laughable offenses, I got to glimpse the priceless reward of staying together through the hard, dull, happy, painful, breathtaking years.

                After my father-in-law’s heart attack there was a time of uncertainty, when the end seemed very near.  So in the middle of the night I brought his wife of fifty-two years to the hospital. She hurried to his bedside and silently held on to his hand for as long as I was there.

                At the end, what could be more comforting than to have one last chance to hold the hand that held your hand through the excitement of youth and held your children as babies and hugged you through heartbreak and illness and historical events and natural disasters.  What hand could possibly know you better—all your faults and vulnerabilities and hopes?  Who else invested as much in your life--in building a home and feeding a family and surviving? 

                What an amazing gift to be able to sit and share the end with the one who shared your life path, for better or worse, and didn’t give up, or leave, or turn away.  That is something priceless worth staying for.    

 p.s.  My in-laws will be blessed with more days together--my father-in-law is on the mend.