Better to Have Loved
(A story of love and loss)
Based on true events, before I got there. Retold in my words based on accounts from others. Names, some details, and times changed.
Carol smiled to herself as she knocked and entered Bill's room. She could feel her heart fluttering in her chest, normally a scary feeling for an older lady such as she, but she knew it wasn't medical reasons, but emotional ones. She was in love! Her eyes met his and he smiled that special way he did only when he saw her. Her Bill. They met at the nursing home, both single and lonely and quickly bonded.
They were not the type of romantic couple you read about. He was an ex fighter pilot, now in his 80's and battling dementia. She was a good bit older than him, she laughed when she imagined herself as a cougar. But they had such a special bond. He kept her young and she took care of him. They gave each other purpose and happiness. What did the difference of their years matter when the product of their love equaled so much joy?
Carol frowned when she saw Bill's things being moved. She inquired of the staff and found he was being moved to the dementia ward. Like so many sad romance movies, an unhappy presence didn't want to see them together. His caretaker, the wife of his old best friend, didn't approve of their relationship: for reasons she kept to herself. Everyone had their own opinions on that, some surmised jealousy had a lot to do with it.
Carol trembled as she walked around the outside of the building until she found his window. She knocked with frail hands as she did many days. She looked at her own hand, the delicate veins running through white skin. she sighed, feeling old. Bill's face appeared. She pressed her hand against the glass and his hand pressed against hers, that glass separating them but she could still feel the glow of his special smile for her. Her hand felt young, yearning to hold his, her sweetheart's. She didn't understand why they must be separated. She clung to these stolen moments through the window. Carol smiled though, smiled with love for him.
His caretaker moved him out. With instructions she wasn't to visit, nor was he to see her.Carol stopped smiling. Stopped living.
A month later she died. Their courtship was brief and at the end of their lives, but it was everything to her. She died. Many say she died of a broken heart.
She waits now. Waits to be reunited with her love once more. A love that she found in her golden years and that could not be extinguished, even after death. Someday, they will be together again.
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