So it’s funny how life has a way of coming full circle. I was up to my eyeballs in packing crap! Boxes stacked sky-high. Body bruised and battered. Would this never end? And then, amidst the chaos, another Gregger miracle appeared.
A box stuffed with letters from our dating days. Handwritten. Stacked and bound with an old, worn rubber band. Ready to snap. Where to begin? A letter from December 17th, 1974. 23 days before he proposed to me. So telling. And so much a part of this “fairytale.” It was winter break at ASU. I was flying home to St. Louis. With nothing but a “vomit bag” to write on, my love message was truly something to cherish. Who would save such a thing but my Gregger? The words were a simple reminder of how blessed we were to have 40 years together. The ups, downs, highs, lows, and in-betweens. None of that mattered. It was life. And it made it all worthwhile. It made me a better person. It made us a better couple. But this letter. WOW!
Dear Greg,
I know this isn’t the most desirable stationary you’ve ever seen (the vomit bag!), 
but right now it is the only thing that is available. I haven’t stopped thinking about you since I stepped out the door, and I know it isn’t going to get any easier. I just never believed this day would actually come (leaving each other), but I guess I can say the same about December 31st (I was going to Council Bluffs to visit and meet his family). We only have better times to look forward to now because the hardest part is practically over (separating). I never believed I could actually feel this way about anyone, but the past years of waiting have all proved to be well worthwhile. As I have said so many times before, you’ve given me everything that any person could ever want from life. As far as I’m concerned I am the luckiest person alive! Sitting here thinking about the past THREE MONTHS (Yes! That is all we’d been together!) it just seems as though everything is too good to be true. I feel like we’re characters from a FAIRYTALE and I hope our “ENDING” will be “HAPPILY EVER AFTER.” 
That’s the only ending I ever want to see because I’m just not all there without you. Sweetheart, for the first time in my life I have found out what it really means to share your life with someone else and to develop mutual feelings of love and trust. Love is a two-way street, a mutual give-and-take relationship, and I think we’ve found the right direction down the road. Sure, we’ve had our fights, big and small, but that’s all part of love and life. As long as we remember that those fights are only because we love and care, then we can never really be hurt by it. Many of our arguments have even brought us closer together because we are able to talk our differences over. I am glad to be going home for only one reason. I can’t wait for my parents to see how happy I really am because they haven’t seen me this way for so long. Greg, although I’ve said it a million times before, I owe all that happiness to you. I just hope I have made you as happy and given you as much love and understanding as you have given me. I honestly feel that we have grown together. We met as two separate individuals with our own thoughts and feelings and have united together as one. My hopes and dreams are no longer for my personal benefit, but for you and your happiness, and, even more, for “us.” It’s funny that even though we are so far apart, I still feel you are with me and that we’re as close as ever before. I miss you already. I love you.
20 years old. 3 months together. I knew. And I never stopped knowing. It was a fairytale. We had the happily ever after. We just didn’t have the perfect ending. But I’m not sure anyone ever does. Gregger, you are with me every day. You always will be. You are my heart. You are my soul. You are my forever. I love you.
You must log in to post a comment.