A Might-have-been 70th Wedding Anniversary

Yes, today, 9th April 2025, might have been
My Beloved’s and my 70th anniversary.
It wasn’t to be, as she died after our 68th.

But, it is NOT a sad day! It is a day of rejoicing.

I have so many things for which to be thankful. My Beloved would not have wanted me to be be sad today: she wanted a joyful party on the day we celebrated her life and we did have a joyful time.

There are so many good and wonderful memories:

• the day of our wedding
• the day our first child was born
• the many holidays towing our Olympic class dinghy and 5 kids and a collie in the back of the wagon
• the many cruises by ourselves to hundreds of cities around the world
• the times, sometimes with kids, we drove around Europe, Canada and the USA
• the times we spent driving around South Africa, Australia and New Zealand
• the many Sundays spent singing in church choirs – and the practices
• the many 18- and 20-hour days we spent preparing a study for one or other of our clients
• the years we spent in Spain with my sister-in-law, Margaret, and her husband
• the almost 20 years we spent renting, for 4 or 5 months over winter, a condo in Palm Springs beside the pool and with all the friends we made at church and at daily exercises and aquacises for My Beloved
• the marriages of all five kids and the progeny of all of them
• the times we had many visitors over 60 or so years staying for short or long stays – each brought his or her joy and gave it to us
• the love My Beloved showed by always looking her best when I got home from work or a business trip

It’s true that from time to time I will be looking at some TV program and I turn to her in her chair to make a comment – but she isn’t there! Maybe I will never rid myself of the actual fact she is no longer with me, but I hope not. She will for ever be with me until we meet again in Heaven. And that is one reason I can still be joyful: knowing we will meet again. Yes, the circumstances will be different, quite different, I am sure.
Love will be all around, with everybody, not just centered, as on earth, on the two of us.
I rejoice today in that knowledge!