Love’s Last Regrets

We are floating in the ocean with six thousand other passengers on Royal Caribbean’s, Oasis of the Seas. Vance and I are on a cruise, or I call it a marriage mission, to be writing more pages in our book called Life. It’s also a time to just unwind and enjoy being with my husband and let life’s worries float away for seven days.

 

One morning we had wandered onto deck eight which is called, Central Park, where there is a beautiful piece of heaven on this boat. As the sliding doors opened, we walked into a gorgeous tropical paradise. A winding brick path was lined with lush greenery, flowers, and trees. Small tables and chairs spilled out from the Park Cafe, and people were sitting chatting with someone they were spending the week with.

 

I sigh.

I dream heaven will be like this, only better.

Vance and I stopped at the Park Cafe to grab some breakfast, and we sat down at one of the outdoor tables. We were enjoying steaming mugs of coffee and fresh breakfast sandwiches while chatting. Then I hear a voice. I turn and look at a man who seems to be in his late seventies. He has a full head of white hair and is handsome for his age.

“Is he?” He asks me as he points at Vance.

“Is he what?” I ask a bit confused.

“Is he really Superman?”

I laugh as I look at Vance wearing his Superman t-shirt.

“Yes, he is!” I say laughing and grabbing my husbands bicep.

“I don’t think my wife feels that way about me,” the elderly gentleman says softly.

I could see regret in his eyes. I didn’t know what to say and the moment suddenly felt awkward as I looked at him.

“Well, I put my husband through the wringer, and he stuck it out with me. So, he’s a good man!”

If only he knew our story, we have been down a long road, that in the beginning was lined with heartache and tears.

I saw an elderly woman come sit across from him and sadness filled me. So much time lost, being married that long and knowing your wife doesn’t think highly of you, must be disheartening. At first, I thought maybe she was just a grumpy wife who was hard to please. Then I had the thought that perhaps he hadn’t been an adoring husband in his younger years. Now he was older and was having regrets. I don’t know, every couple has their own story.

After the man chatted with Vance and me, I stood up and went to the cafe to get more coffee. A lady in her sixties was at the coffee station and was grooving to the music playing over the speakers. I grinned at her and asked her if it was one of those days where she just felt like dancing? She turned to me with a smile and explained in a cheerful voice that this was the song she and her husband had walked back down the aisle to at their wedding. I thought to myself, this is a relatively new song, I wonder how long she’s been married? So, I asked her.

“We’ve been married for a year and a half.”

“So, you’re newlyweds,” I said excitedly

“Not really, we lived together for eleven years first.”

“You finally decided to take the plunge, then?”

“Yes!” she said with a big smile

“Any regrets?”

“None at all!”

I shared with her that I had been married twenty-nine years and it had only gotten better with time. We talked a bit more about our husbands and had a few laughs together about life in general. She waved and said goodbye to me and then surprised me by saying, “Thanks for taking the time to talk to me, you have a good day!”

I floated on a cloud out to my husband, sitting at the little table and was reminded how I need to cherish every moment I have with him, plus I’m a hopeless romantic.

I looked back again at the older couple and wished with all my heart that he could turn his marriage around before he or his wife are gone. Just a few happy years together, so the one who is left behind doesn’t feel a profound sense of regret and loss.

Life and love are so short, we can easily miss the moments that are given to us. Maybe today is the day you decide to start a new chapter in your marriage. It’s never too late to give Love, another chance and have a happy ending 💗

 

Love’s Unknown Road

Walking hand in hand

Along the path we go

Birds are singing softly

My cheeks are aglow

I think about my Love

And how hearts have grown

Two have become one

No longer on their own

Beating together daily

Along a dusty road

Slowly making our way

To a paradise unknown

 Cindy Seaton

 

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3 NLT