Room 808

It might be said the final chapter of a love story was written Thursday, August 13, 2009.

It is a memoir of mutual devotion which began during childhood and endured for more than 75 years ~ 61 of those years in marriage.

For the past few months, Joseph had maintained an arduous and continuous vigil at the bedside of his wife, Josephine, as she struggled bravely in a losing battle for her life. Family members often begged him to take rest or to eat, but very little ~ short of force ~ would have cleaved him from her side.

Despite all of this, he was always quick with a smile, a pat on the back, and never once failed to ask, "How is your Mother doing?"

The entire family ~ their legacy ~ was at Joseph's side as his Josephine's ordeal came to an end; he would not have had it any other way.

"A wife is the joy of a man's heart." ~ from the Talmud

This could have been written with Joseph in mind; she not only seemed to be his "joy," but clearly held his heart in her hands.

While it seems their story's end was written Thursday, Josephine and Joseph understood the promise of much more to come.

I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white
sails to the morning breeze
and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength
and I stand and watch her until at length
she stands like a speck of white cloud
just where the sea and sky come
down to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says,

"There! She's gone."

Gone where?

Gone from my sight, that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar
as she was when she left my side,
and just as able to bear her load of living freight
to the place of destination.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at that moment
when someone at my side says,
"There! She's gone."
There are other eyes watching her coming
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout,

"There! There she comes!"

Parable of Immortality ~ Henry Van Dyke

Sailing from this world into the life-eternal.