Johnny And Velma

A lot of attention gets paid to falling in love. It has been immortalized in song and poetry. The big screen exists to tell its story. Dance was invented to express its exquisite highs and abysmal lows. Wars have been fought, oceans crossed and peaks scaled in the name of that pristine and perfect moment. We know everything about the majesty of falling in love, but what about the rest of the story? What do we really know about picking up and going on and staying steady after the falling? In an era of broken love stories, there are few examples of love enduring. Most of us don’t know any of those stories. But I know one. A really good one. Teenage John was cool and intriguing. Teenage Velma was sassy and interested. She, a non-smoker, asked him for a smoke. He, nonchalant, gave her one, which she didn’t know how to handle. She, flirtatiously, inquired if he would ask her out and he, bemusedly, said he didn’t date girls who smoked. Thus ended my grandmother’s smoking career and began my grandparents’ love affair. They loved through separation, war, poverty, illness, loss, and tragedy. They loved three children, eight grandchildren, and, to date, nine great-grandchildren. They loved for 72 years and were only apart for about a year until she called him home. Sally Huss speaks of all the different ways to love in I Love You With All My Hearts. She didn’t know them, so she missed a few.

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