By JANET HART LEONARD
From the Hart
Love is patient. Love is kind. Love holds my hand.
Eight years ago, Chuck and I said our wedding vows before God and three hundred of our closest family and friends. Apparently, our friends did not have anything better to do on a snowy cold Sunday in February. We could count the “not attending” on our fingers.
As we stood at the altar, Chuck held my hand as we sang “Great is Thy Faithfulness.”
Love came softly. Love came quickly. We married six months after we started dating. Chuck said people our age do not buy green bananas and they don’t wait to get married.
Three weeks after our first date, I remember sitting on the sofa watching a football game. He held my hand and told me he was falling in love with me. I was not expecting to hear those words. I told him that he was on a mountain bike, and I was on a tricycle. I knew we were going in the same direction, he just needed to slow down and let me catch up.
Fast forward to the next day. It’s pouring rain as I’m walking into Kohls. My sandal slips, my ankle kisses the hard tile. and I hit the tile floor. I limp back out to the car and drive myself to the hospital. Chuck and I were meeting his friends for dinner so I make the call to let him know I may be running late.
As I’m waiting to hear the X-ray results, Chuck walks into the emergency exam room.
“Chuck, what are you doing here?” He smiled and said, “the nurse said your husband could come on back here.”
It was at that moment that I knew I had “fallen” in love with Chuck Leonard.
He took my hand. “Janet, I’ll always be here to take care of you.”
He has kept that promise. He has held my hand through the better and through the worst of our eight years together.
He held it when we were on the plane to Tampa the first time, and I met his sons and their families. He knew I was scared. He held it at the funeral home when my mother passed. He knew my heart was broken.
Love is still patient. Love is still kind. Love still holds my hand.
And we are still not buying green bananas.
This is a beautiful column. Beautiful sentiment and beautifully written.
Thank you for sharing this part of your life.