*I own nothing but the story line*
It was one decade ago when he first saw her and it was one hour later when he asked her to coffee the next day. And so it was on that one day when the met up that they fell in love, it was within the first minuet that they knew.
A year later they were moving in and living together.
One year later, they were given the worst news anyone could receive: she had cancer.
Throughout the next year, they tried everything but it would not go away, it would not weaken. A week later, he proposed and one year later, they had the wedding of their dreams. A month later, she took a turn for the worst. She became weakened and had more trips to the hospital. After one last trip, she made the choice to stop. To stop the constant car rides the painful transfusions.
For the next week, he did not go to work. In a thin, raspy voice she would say, "Honey, go. They need you more than I. I have nurses who constantly look in on me. Go."
He would always reply, "They can handle themselves a while longer. I wouldn't be able to do my job anyways; you are all that I would be able to think about." And always, these few exchanges of word would leave her exhausted to the point where she would sometimes miss the last few words he'd say. The next week grew quieter when she didn't have the strength to do more than sleep.
It pains them both to see the same pain in each other's eyes. The next day she didn't wake for even a second. The day that followed, she awoke to find him lying next to her, his eyes puffy and dark from hours of no sleep. He noticed her watching him and he said in a whisper so soft, "I love you and I will miss you. You have been the strongest person I have ever known. I don't want to watch you in pain and that's all you can feel now." He watched as she closed her eyes. "You have been so strong for so long and I feel like it was for me but I can't anymore and neither can you. I will remember you every waking second but you have to leave me now." There were tears in his eyes and his throat was tense.
He wrapped his arms around her cold body in a final goodbye he placed his lips to her head and gently kissed her there.
It was almost instantaneous when he knew she was gone. He lay there crying and holding her tight for hours, not wanting to let go.
That was five years ago today, as he stands on the snow covered ground with three red roses in his hands that he places on the headstone. He didn't say a word, knowing that the last seventy-one had been enough. And as he closed his eyes in thought he let the tear slide down his face for the one he had loved most.