A Friend’s Story

More than 30 years ago, he ran into this petite, beautiful, and lively girl in a school fraternity.

It was the last year of his graduate study. She was newly married; the husband was another graduate student. Their small group student friends sometimes organized parties and gatherings throughout the school year. Gradually, she had become his idol in the heart, not to be easily forgotten in his thoughts.

He is the modest and good mannered gentleman. He stops his sentiment in the ritual. Nothing had been said to her and his feeling was only buried in his heart.

Several years later, he started a career. He was thirty some year old and still had no girl friend. His sisters and brothers got married and his parents were worried. He maintained a closed friend circle with his graduate student friends.

One day, he heard that she was divorced, a single mother with a two year old boy, living in a struggle.

He immediately wrote her a letter, told her at bottom of his heart he had been thinking of her for years, he asked her if she is willing to marry him, he promised he will be responsible for taking care of her and her son. Several months later, they had a wedding ceremony, attended by troop of old friends and family members. He moved her and her son to the city where he worked. They had a new family. Three years later, they had a daughter.

30 years passed since then, they have lived tranquilly and a peaceful life. The children are all grown up and left home. Their past story was faded and forgotten. She occasionally shed tears to the friends, complaining he was an indifferent husband, complaining he had offended her mother, complaining he had hurt her feelings sometimes.

One month ago, she had a major surgery. He stayed in the hospital day and nights without leaving her. He wrote to friends and relatives for her conditions, made arrangement for people to find suitable time to visit her.

One day when I visit her at the Hospital, I mentioned to her how important to have someone to be close and to be an accompany for the surgery. I teased her: “your old husband is now very useful, and he is so good for you.” They both smiled embarrassedly.

Would marriage be a heavy sentiment in late age？