LESSONS FROM THE CEMETERY

*I found this while I was digging through old files on my computer for something else. I wrote it on August 18, 2017, but never posted it. I'm not sure why. Since that day, the subject of this blog - my father-in-law, Don Glaser - has also passed on. He is finally reunited with the love of his life after more than a decade without her. We can only imagine the celebration that was! Enjoy.

We took my father-in-law to the cemetery tonight on this, the 9th anniversary of the death of his beloved, his soul mate, his everything – his Eleanor.

Step by labored step, he made his way to her gravesite, his hands tightly gripping ours. "Hello, Dear. It's me again," he said with that ever joyful and optimistic smile still crossing his lips. And then he pulled a wrinkled piece of paper out of his pocket and read:

"I have a little poem, dear, just to say 'I love you.'
Of all the women in the world, there's no one that's above you.
I guess I'll always carry this torch 'til I get to your mansion and sit on your porch."

What? That was adorable. They were adorable. The catch in his throat was just barely noticeable, the smile on my face – way more so. I asked him if he repeated that same poem to her every year when he came to visit. "No," he said. "I just made that one up today."

Did I say "adorable" yet?

We stood a little longer as he told her that he loved her and he'd come to see her soon. "But," he added, "no hurry." Because, despite it all, Don Glaser is a happy and grateful man.

She was his queen – a rare and precious treasure worthy of all devotion and respect. And he was her knight in shining armor, masquerading as a salt-of-the-earth guy in worn-out gardening clothes and tennis shoes with dress socks. Each one lived to please the other – both ending up the beneficiaries.

If you're lucky enough to witness a love like this even once in your life, drink it in and let it shake every jaded inhibition and selfish motivation loose. Let it ruin you for anything less.

Because love is the reason for living, and the only thing stronger than death.
Take it from Don Glaser.