A Wonderful Wedding

Hello everyone.

It was a beautiful morning today, warm and dry but a bit breezy. I went to our little volunteer office and found the two bottles of cinnamon that I had left in the following weeks.  I can be so absent minded about some things.  Whenever I brew a fresh pot of coffee, I always put a bit of cinnamon in the grounds.  The cinnamon takes all of the bitterness out of the coffee and gives it a nice smooth taste!

            After retrieving my badge, which identifies who I am, I walked into the downstairs break room.  Standing next to the coffee pot was a lady in her fifties, with long golden hair.

            Armed with a bottle of cinnamon in my hand I walk over to make so coffee.  Since this lady is standing nearby, I start to chat with her.  “Cindy” was very friendly lady and very easy to talk too. This wonderful lady was the wife of one of our patients.

            The lady with the golden hair told me about her raising in Kansas and how she had met “Donald,” her future husband.  They eventually came down to Houston to find better employment, which finds them here. Cindy freely told me of all of the medical trials of her Donald’s lung cancer that he has been battling for the last few years.

            Cindy was also very frustrated and heartbroken over her inability to get her husband on disability.  Even though he had a terminal cancer, the disability office had been giving them the runaround.  That type of frustration was the last thing that they needed!

            When Donald had seen the doctor and had been briefed on the test results, he said that the doctor had informed him that he had four to six years to live.  His cancer was terminal and could not be treated!

            When his wife met with the doctor, she had found out that he had misunderstood!  He really only had four to six months to live!  This loving man it seems had tried to protect his wife from the shock of the news!

            Once Cindy had found out the real diagnosis, she did not tell him the truth.  If he wanted to protect her heart, she would let him!

            She now described how they had meet in a store in Kansas where they both lived.  They very quickly moved in together.  That was thirty years ago!  She revealed that because of past unsuccessful love lives for both of them, they decided to just live together.

            Because both of them had trust issues the first few years were difficult, but after that the remaining years was wonderful and full of love!   So, last summer when he was diagnosed with lung cancer, they decided to finally get married! 

            For months afterwards as he endured treatments for his cancer nothing more was said about it.  Then a few months ago when Donald met the hospital chaplain, he asked him if he could perform weddings!    Cindy was there and was shocked!  But it was a joyful shock!  The chaplain replied that he could not perform that ceremony but he could arrange another that could marry them.

            Cindy and Donald had lived together for thirty years and they had lived quiet and low-keyed lives.  They didn’t think that anyone would be interested in their wedding, but Cindy sent out invitations by email anyway.  With Donald in the hospital Cindy didn’t have time for real invitations or the wedding bells and whistles.

            To their surprise fifty people showed up at Donald’s hospital room for their wedding!  They were surprised and overjoyed by all of the support that they were not even aware of.  They were happily married and Cindy gladly took on his name.

            Cindy admitted to me that even though they had a wonderful life living together for the last thirty years, it felt different now.  They now felt an even closer bond with each other.  Cindy said that marriage does make a difference!   She told me now they will spend as much time together and enjoy each other for his last few remaining weeks.

            This all reminded me of the cinnamon that I put into the coffee grounds.  The cinnamon takes all of the bitterness out of the coffee.  That makes the coffee drink nice and smooth.  It looked to me that their marriage took a lot of the bitterness out of their situation.  That made their relationship with Donald’s condition much smoother.

Does anyone else know of a last minute wedding?  Can you tell me about it in the comments section?

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Brother Roop