What Together Looks LIke

They've been together for 69 years.
Lived a lifetime and raised some kids.
Now those kids have kids and those kids have kids, and on and on their story will go.
It's been a long and full story -
Young love, jobs, moves, children, dreams, adventures...
Until it's finally just the two of them again.

It's been just the two of them for awhile now.
They slowed their stride and knew the best years had already come and gone.

She only leaves him, now, when there is someone else with him.
He's prone to wander, and she feels the fear in places only she knows.
She lays out his clothes and helps him with the hard parts -
The buttons and the zippers.
The parts that need to be held together for fear of falling apart.
As she bustles around their apartment he follows on her heels.
Just wants to be close, just wants to stay connected.
So does she.
But it's hard sometimes, to always have someone underfoot.
To never be able to just "get it done".
After all those years of needing him to keep them afloat, now she's the one he clings onto.

In the afternoon he needs his rest.
She needs a break - some space -
Only he won't lie down in their bed unless she lies down beside him.
Once her head is on her pillow, and her body beside his, his breath slows and his eyes close.
He is safe now, he has all he needs.

Walking down the hallway, he won't use a walker, or a cane, or even the railing.
He holds her hand fast and tight, leaning in just a little.
"It's the way we've always walked together", he says.
"I just need to hold onto you".

Sometimes she wants to run away- loosen the grip and find space and time.
But she loves him.
Whether he remembers what happened yesterday or five minutes ago - this much she knows.
She holds out her hand, and he holds on for dear life.

This is what together looks like.