The first time that he saw her he knew that she was the one for him, the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. To grow old together and ride into the sunset of life. She was the one for him and he had to make her his, in the romantic way, not the stalkerish sort of way. Call it love at first sight, or a surge of hormones to the brain, or whatever you may call it, he was truly in love with her. To him she was just perfect.
She was a little hesitant. Not well educated, not from the same strata of society that he was. She had her physical flaws. All this made her feel that she never could fit in his world. All this made her feel that she was far from perfect for him. So she didn’t feel they would work.
He had seen her while she took care of her sister’s kids who stayed in his building. He knew she was shy and wouldn’t easily accept his love. But that didn’t dishearten him. At a casual sing-a-long, he took the guitar and gently strummed, singing “Hello Josephine... how do you do...” and that moment she knew what he felt for her was real and she too felt the same way about him.
A few days later they began seeing each other and in just over a year they were married. It may have not been the fairy tale courtship and marriage but for them it was just perfect. They promised to be with each other through sickness and good health, in good times and bad, till death do them apart. He even jokingly coaxed her to finish the sacramental wine so that the next couple wouldn’t have any. The day was a celebration of their love for each other a lifetime commitment to each other. It may not have been a royal wedding, but for them it was way more than that.
Now life is not all a garden of roses, a fairy tale, you also need to wake up from the dream and start living life. He went back to his job abroad and she lived with his family in their one room hall kitchen. He had to work to support his family, to support her and by and by their family grew.
He tried to give her the life she needed, the life she deserved. And though distance kept them apart for most of the time, it didn’t weaken the love they felt for each other. And with each passing their love grew and as did their family. From just the two of them, they added three more. And though he missed their birth, their christening, their communion, they always longed for their dad. There were three more kids who insisted on sleeping at night with their mumma and dada when all they wanted was some time to themselves.
They tried to make the most of the time they got to spend with each other. With each different country he worked in, the amount of holidays he could take changed, grew lesser. He returned home for lesser amount of time. She on her path got caught up looking after their children, looking after his family. But whenever he was there for a birthday or any function, he took the guitar and gently strummed, “Hello Josephine, how do you do... do you remember me baby... like I remember you...” and she would smile shyly while he sang this to her, her song.
Now this is no fairy tale and life doesn’t always have an happy ending. In the end, death did eventually tore them apart. He passed away, though not alone, but far away from her, by himself, in a strange foreign land. Seeing what remained him her heart broke into million pieces, the bangles that lay on his mortal remains. She knew she would never ever see alive and breathing next to her again, never ever to utter to utter those words, never ever to sing to her. But she knew that she would always treasure his voice, his song, hi breath, deep in her heart. And if she could just close her eyes, she could feel his presence beside her. She knew that this parting was sweet sorrow, till they would meet in another tomorrow.
She continued to live her life bringing up their kids but always with his memory in her heart. He looked down upon her, her guardian angel, proud to see how she was doing. He longed to be with her, by her side, cause all though his heart was filled with happiness, there was a longing that felt, a longing to be with her, his family, to give all the love she deserved, to by her side. He knew that one day they would would unite and then he would say to her...”Hello Josephine... how do you... do you remember me baby... like I remember you...”
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