Memories of Yesterday

The old man sat back on the cool grass next to his wife and sighed.  He was fondling a red rose--his wife's favorite--in his fingers, bringing the bloom to his face and inhaling its sweet scent.

"Oh, sweetheart," he said with a faraway smile, "do you remember when we first met?  You were an angel, standing on the dock waiting for your brother to come home from the war, and I . . .well, I couldn't stop staring at you.  You saw me at the same time, and I can still remember your mouth hanging wide open as I descended the gangplank from the ship--the same one your brother was stationed on.

"Who would have thought that Peterson's sister was so beautiful?  He had pictures of you, but oh, darlin', they didn't do you justice.  Blonde hair flowing about your face, blue eyes looking timidly into mine . . . 

"It must have been the excitement of it all that made me do it, you know," he said with a sidelong glance.  "Finally the Second World War was over and everyone around us was smooching away.  There I stood, a lonely sailor, in front of the most gorgeous creature I'd ever laid my eyes on.  I just had to kiss you.  And ah, what a kiss it was!  Not just any kiss, darlin', but one that makes the world seem to fall away from you.  I had never spoken a word to you, but I knew at that moment you were going to be my wife."

Gazing at the clouds floating lazily by, the man grinned and said, "Your hair was even more glorious spread out on my pillow night after night.  You know I used to lay there and watch you sleeping?  It amazed me that after all the hell I had seen in the war, that I was holding a piece of heaven in my arms.  Aw, sweetheart, you chased all the demons away."

Taking a ragged breath, he smelled the rose once more and laid it on the ground next to him.  Wiping away a tear, the man whispered, "I wish you were here with me now."  Leaning down, he placed a loving kiss on his wife's headstone. 

"But I know you're waiting for me, darlin'," he smiled again.  "I know you're standing there on the other side of Heaven's Gate just like you were on the docks all those years ago.  And you know what I'm going to do first thing when I get there, sweetheart?  I'm going to give you another kiss worthy of all the angels in Heaven."

Leaning his forehead against the cold stone that marked his wife's grave, the old man whispered sadly, "I miss you, Rose."  ©

~~Rebecca Goings