True Love

"My parents lived married for 55 years. One morning, my mom came down the stairs to prepare my father's breakfast, suffered a heart attack and fell.

"My father picked it up as best he could and almost dragged her into the car without respecting traffic lights, he drove her to the hospital.

When he arrived, unfortunately it was dead.

During the funeral, my father did not speak; his look was lost. He almost did not cry.

That night, his children met him. In an atmosphere of pain and nostalgia, we remember beautiful tales and he asked my brother to tell him where mom would be at that moment.

My brother began to talk about life after death, and about how and where she would be.

My father listened carefully. Suddenly he asked us to take him to the graveyard.

"Dad!", We replied, "it's 11 o'clock at night, we can not go to the graveyard now!".

He raised his voice, and with a glazed look said: "Do not argue with me, please do not argue with the man who just lost his wife."

There was a moment of respectful silence, we did not argue anymore.

We went to the graveyard, we asked permission from the night watchman. With a flashlight we reach the grave.

My father embraced her grave and said - It was 55 years ... you know, nobody can talk about true love, if you have no idea what it is to share life with a woman."

He paused and wiped his face and said to his children, "She and I, we were together in that crisis, I changed jobs ...", he continued. "We packed our bags when we sold the house and moved in. We shared the joy of seeing our children finish their careers, we cried next to each other the departure of loved ones, we prayed together in the waiting room of some hospitals, we lean on pain, we embrace each Christmas, and we forgive our mistakes ...

Guys, now she is gone, and I am happy, do you know why?

Because she left before me. She did not have to live through the agony and pain of burying me, of being left alone after my departure. I'll be the one to go through that, and I thank God. I love her so much, that I would not have liked her to suffer ... "

When my father finished speaking, my brothers and I had our faces soaked in tears. We embraced him, and he consoled us: "Everything is fine, we can go home, it has been a good day".

That night I understood what true love is; it is far from romanticism, it does not have much to do with eroticism, nor with sex, rather it is linked to work, to the complement, to the care and, above all, to the true love that two really committed people profess".