What Is True Love?featured

I met an older couple the other day as I patiently waited my turn at the doctor’s office. I noticed they were probably twice my age and had probably been together for years.

The man was holding a daily planner in his hands while jotting down some information. The woman stared into the stale empty space we call a waiting room. I couldn’t help but wonder what the old man was writing down.

After a few minutes of letting my mind wander off, I stirred up a conversation with the old man. It turns out, he was jotting down important dates in the planner. I asked him what he did for a living and he replied, “I am my sweetheart’s personal assistant.”

I giggled with the sweetest intentions. I asked the man what exactly he meant. He replied that his wife was diagnosed with cancer recently and that is was his “duty” to keep track of each and every one of “their” appointments.

The keyword being “their.” This man had not only dedicated his entire life to being this woman’s sweetheart but dedicated his entire life to taking care of her in the most precious of ways.

I told the man it was very noble of him of to do such a thing and that I admired him. He looked at me in utter shock. “What do you mean?” He replied. “I must do this, there is no choice. What is the alternative? To walk away from my sweetheart? Are you kidding me?”

He seemed a little agitated at my choice of words. It was as if I had insulted his sense of character. He gently held his wife’s hand throughout our entire conversation. I stared at their intertwined fingers.

These were the hands of two people who took vows very long ago. Not only that, but they took those vows extremely serious. This man let me know there are no options in love. It is his purpose to be his wife’s personal assistant in times of trouble. It is his purpose to be the stronger one when his counterpart is the weakest.

A tear ran down my cheek. Our conversation faded out like the scene out of a horrible movie about disease. But it wasn’t the scene out of a horribly sad movie, it was the scene out of a beautiful love story. The type of love story Disney never told us. The type of love that only exists after the “happily ever after” part.

True love is being there no matter the circumstance. True love is standing up taller and loving each other harder every single day that you share together.

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