THE SOLIDER AND THE WIFE

PART I

They called it love at first sight.
History was unfolding before their eyes.
She was a beauty that stood out in a crowd. 
Heads would turn. 
It made him proud.

It was time for him to leave.

He glanced at her as they said their goodbyes. 
Whispering, “Promise me you won’t change” 
He boarded the plane.

She greeted him upon his return.
She didn’t change a thing.
The picture in his mind remained intact, four years later.
She was frozen in time, as the world passed her by.
His smile held as he stepped off the plane, then faded when he saw her.
He leaned in for a hug, as the words slipped out of his mouth, “You haven't changed?”

PART II

Years had passed. 
Death was upon her. 
It came too early. 
She spent her days reviewing her life.
Her interactions.
Her choices.
Things that were said and things she chose not to.
She wanted to die at peace.

Her mind drifted to the beginning of the end.
A wife greeting her soldier husband.
Her painstaking efforts to keep herself exactly as she was.
Certain her promise had helped him come home alive.
The way his words penetrated every cell in her being.
She tucked the pain away.
Did the only thing she knew how.
Smiled.

PART III

His wife had been dead for years.
He spoke to her often.
He sat today by the seaside as his mind drifted back to that day, those words.
He had wanted to freeze time. 
She, a beautiful woman.
He was in love. 
He wanted to hold her, and that moment, in his mind. 
Not knowing how those words would cut. 
Not understanding the sacrifices she made to keep his promise.
And now, all these years later, sitting alone, he did.