And that was our beginning. It’s not a thrilling tale of adventure or the kind of fairy-tale romance portrayed in movies, but it felt like divine intervention.
We all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand.
It went on, this lifetime in a box, one letter after another.
Her hands are warm and soft. Hands I knew better then my own.
The last thing she’d wanted was anything as complicated as a relationship, for it felt as though there we’re though complication in her life already.
She had known the kind of love that was worth risking everything for, the kind of love that was as rare as a glimpse of heaven.
You’re very perceptive for a guy who can go a whole day without talking,” she said, peering up at him. “That’s why I’m perceptive.
Because I thought it was good enough. And I hoped I could change. That over time, maybe I would come to feel the same way about him as I did about you. But I didn’t, and as the years went on, I think he came to see that, too. And it hurt him, and I knew it hurt him, but the harder he tried to show me how important I was to him, the more suffocated I felt. And I resented that. I resented him...
He drew a deep breath, struggling to keep his emotions in check, knowing he didn’t love her simply in the here and now but that he would never stop loving her.
But Ruth has not read all the letters I’ve written to her. She couldn’t. Though I wrote them for her, I also wrote them for me, after all, and after she passed away, I placed another box beside the original. In this box are letters written with a shaking hand, letters marked only by my tears, not hers. They are letters written on what would have been yet another anniversary. Sometimes I think about reading them, just as she used to, but it hurts me to think that she never had the chance.
Here’s what else I’ve learned: Age doesn’t guarantee wisdom, any more than age guarantees intelligence.
I wish I could simply forgive myself and move on, but then again, if I really wanted to change, why didn’t I?
Because counseling isn’t about changing someone else. It’s about trying to change yourself.
She would tell me that it was a sign that your heart was pure, that you formed deep attachments, and that once you loved something – or someone – you would never stop.
You can’t run, you can’t hide, and the idea that you have no control at all just gets into your head and it sticks there. In my time in the Navy, I was never so scared in my life. Bombs and smoke everywhere, fires on the deck. Meanwhile, the guns are booming and the noise is like nothing you’ve ever heard. Thunder times ten, maybe, but that doesn’t describe it. In the big battles, Japanese Zeros strafed the deck continually, the shots ricocheting all over the place.
Why study or try to change the world on a Friday afternoon when you could be out enjoying the sun?
Like Jesus said ’blessed are the lazy who lie on boats, for they shall inherit a suntan.
I understand women”... There’s no man alive who can honestly say those words and mean them. It just isn’t possible, so there’s no use trying. But that doesn’t mean you can’t love them anyway. And it doesn’t mean that you should ever stop doing your best to let them know how important they are to you!
Love requires sacrifice, but it’s worth it.
We were in love, but the timing wasn’t right. And all the love in the world can’t alter timing.