Love Me

My grandparents had been married for 60 years. It was one of those storybook romances that we all read and dream about. Grandma's health was fading fast, the doctors had already informed the family that we should begin making her final arrangements. We all knew that when she was gone our grandfather would soon follow.

I watched day after day as he sat beside her bed and resighted stories from their past. It was heartbreaking yet so very inspiring to hear the stories that he told. Sometimes she seemed to remember and other times she did not respond to him at all. It must have been torture for him to know that he was losing his one true love. They had spent most of their lives together. She was only fifteen years old when he married her. My heart ached for him as I watched him hold her frail hand in his.

One day he didn't show up to visit her at his usual time. We were all worried sick, I immediately went to look for him. I thought that I might find him sitting beneath that old oak tree; sure enough, that's right where I found him. The tree was sitting in the middle of a large forgotten field. I didn't know at the time that my grandpa had recently purchased the property from the county.

As I approached him I noticed that he was holding a suspicious package wrapped in brown paper. The package was time-worn and long-lived. An ordinary piece of cotton twine held it all together. "We all missed you during visiting hours." I softly spoke as he looked toward me with pale, tear-filled eyes. "I just can't bear to say goodbye," he whispered with a shaky voice. I sit down beside him and wrapped my arms around his trembling shoulders. "It's not goodbye," I explained. "It's more of I'll see you soon." I tried to ease his grief.

"What do you have there?" I asked as I looked at the package in his unsteady hand. He took a long deep breath before answering my question. "Do you see those initials carved in the tree? I put those there on our very first date. I knew right away that I was going to spend my life with her." I looked over at the tree and took in the initials.

"This was our meeting place, right here under this old tree. You might not understand, but I love that lady so very much. We made a plan one day to meet right here and run away. That's exactly what we did." I had never seen my grandfather cry before. But he broke down in tears as he continued to tell his story.

"Right here in the brown package is every single letter that she ever wrote to me. Every day when I'd arrive here to see her, she'd have a note nailed to the tree. She always let me know that she was on her way and would be here just as soon as she could. I'd sit right here and wait for her, she never once let me down. As I studied the tree I could see old nails still deeply embedded in the bark.

He handed the bundled letters to me. "I'm giving these to you, read them someday when you feel lonely or when you need some guidance. Just promise me that you'll keep them safe." - "I promise," I replied as I accepted the package.

I opened the package up just hours before grandma passed away. As I read through the letters my eyes filled with tears. There was so much honesty, innocence, and love in each faded letter. Two weeks later we laid my grandfather to rest beside her beneath that old oak tree. Every so often I stop by and visit them. Sometimes I find an old tattered letter nailed to the tree. The words are always too faded to clearly read. Each one is simply signed "Love me." I smile because I know that they are young again, still in love and still meeting one another beneath that old oak tree.

Do I believe in ghosts you might ask? I don't know about all of that, but I do know one thing for sure; True love carries on even when the light of life is long extinguished.