Author's note: I decided to try my hand in first person. This has always been one of my favorite episodes and always wondered about him. Did he regret what he did? So in his "own words" we find out.
Nobody looks forward to the end of their life. I'm certainly not but as the saying goes; you can't live forever. So here I lie in my bed reminiscing about my life. For the most part it has been a good one. I married my childhood sweetheart right after high school and we've stayed together all these years. Six beautiful children, twenty-eight grandchildren, and four great grandchildren have enriched my life in more ways than I can count. They have all come by to visit me off and on for the past week. I think they know that my time is coming to an end. I know it too and it's making me sad and reflective. I don't relish leaving my family-especially my beautiful wife- but truth be told I'm tired. I'm tired of fighting this disease and want to be free from this excruciating pain. That doesn't mean though that I'm excited about dying but I just want the pain to go away.
My wife Ellen has barely left my side in the past week. We have always been a team through the good times and the bad. And this is definitely one of the bad. But, I'm glad she is here with me. I don't know what I would ever do without her. But, being here with her just makes me think of the mistake I made years ago. I told Ellen about it and she assured me that there wasn't anything I could do. Well actually there was. I could have stuck with my initial ruling because to this day I don't think I ever encountered a couple that cared about each other so much and belonged together. But, obviously I couldn't make them stay married if they didn't want to. Well, at least not in the way they had gotten married. After all as he had said he didn't want to be married just because they checked in some place as Mr and Mrs. Okay, I understood that but it still makes me regretful to this day that they had their marriage annulled. I mean the way they went on and on about what they imagined their wedding would be like was very telling. I like to think they were talking about their wedding and not weddings to other people. Because I have to say the way they were together just warmed my heart. I mean who were they kidding? They obviously wanted to be together but for some reason were afraid. Why, I don't know. But, the way he almost said her name was very telling. Of course he quickly recovered and said appropriate instead of Angela but we all knew he wanted to say: "When I marry Angela." Why he changed it to appropriate person I'll never know. But, he must have had his reasons as she must have as well.
So after I granted them the annulment they did something I never saw a newly single couple do. They threw their arms around one another and kissed like they were never going to see one another again. I couldn't help but think if they kissed each other like that when they get an annulment how in the heck would they kiss if they ever got married again? This time for the right reasons of course. As he said in his own words: "Because I love her and cherish her and want to spend the rest of my life with her." I could see that it meant a lot to both of them, so I did they only thing that I could. I granted them their annulment but there has always been that part of me that wished I could have convinced them otherwise. You know what? Maybe I did. Maybe they did end up getting married and are married now and are as happy as Ellen and I are. I remember watching them leave the room and she saying that she felt a little sad and he replied as if she lost something? She said yeah and he said that he did too. I have to tell you it was bittersweet listening to them especially when they made a date and they joked around about kissing on the first date. But, perhaps they were starting over and this date would be the first of many more to come. And maybe just maybe they both got the wedding and marriage they truly wanted and deserved.
