You know, we're getting close to Valentines Day, and it makes me think about love stories. I read a true love story in the Readers Digest many years ago that I have never forgotten. It's not your typical love story, but I'll tell you, it's one of the best.
There was a couple who met, fell in love, and got married in a short time. They were very much in love, and very happy. Then a terrible thing happened. They were in a horrific car accident. The husband was hurt, but he recovered. The wife, on the other hand, had multiple broken bones and injuries, including to her brain. When she finally recovered consciousness they discovered that she had a rare form of amnesia. She could remember her childhood and adolescence, but she had lost the last year of her life. She didn't remember ever meeting, falling in love with, or marrying her husband. To her, he was a complete stranger.
This didn't bother him at first, he was just so happy that his wife was alive. He figured she would eventually get her memory back, and if not they still had their whole life ahead of them. He just wanted her to get well and be able to walk again. There was a lot of physical therapy that she needed to do to regain her mobility and strength, but it was very painful. The husband encouraged and pushed her, knowing it would help her to get better, but all she knew was that a complete stranger was forcing her to do things that hurt, and she resented him. In fact, as time went on she began to really hate him. She had no fond memories, no love, no reason to even want this man around her.
The couple had both been raised as very strong Christians with a deep respect for the sanctity of marriage. Although many people thought there was no logical reason for them to stay together, the wife didn't even remember their marriage, neither of them believed in divorce. They believed that if you made vows, promises, and commitments to someone you honored them, regardless the circumstances.
Eventually the husband realized that because his wife didn't have any memory of their love, of course she didn't love him. But he could try to make her fall in love with him now. He started over at the beginning, courting her, bringing her flowers, showering her with love and affection, and she did fall in love with him all over again. He asked her to marry him, again, and they had another wedding, renewing the vows they had made so that the wife would have a memory of her wedding day, too.
I love that story. It's real, not just a fairy tale, like life. True life doesn't necessarily have a happy ending. In fact, as it says in the movie The Last Unicorn, there are no happy endings, because nothing ever ends. Life goes on, even after we get married. The trick is to live happily ever after, and that takes commitment more than love. But it is the true love story.
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