The First and Last Good-bye

The First and Last Good-bye


The silvery shine of the moon was reflected on the glass like surface of the lake, where two gray-haired people were sharing a peaceful moment alone. The old man was holding a photo album and talking to his old time sweetheart. They are about to reminisce about the different directions that their lives took, from being a young age to the twilight that they both now share. The man flips open the book and the porch light; the soft glow makes the pictures kind of have that dream quality. The edges of the pictures are fuzzy, and the true meanings of the photos are blurry. The insects use the light as their beacon to the porch over looking the lake.

“This picture is me when I was six. It was taken after my dad took the training wheels off my first two wheeler,” said Sam. “This picture here is my first girlfriend, if I can only remember her name. This one is of my first dog, ‘Lady’. This is my first ride on a roller coaster. The real picture here is that I was so frightened that they had to stop the ride long enough for them to pry my white knuckled hands off of the restraining bar”

Sam turned the page of the album, looked at the gray haired woman, and he reached for her soft and wrinkled hand. He could feel the frailty of her hand and felt as she trembled from his touch. He looked straight into her hazel eyes, eyes that through her eighty years of life have dimmed. She smiled through her wrinkled lips and the crow’s feet. She was still a beauty to him; she was and always will be, the treasure worth waiting for. “Allie,” said Sam, “we really don’t need to go through my photos if you don’t want to.”

Allie looks back at Sam, she has her own photo album in her lap. She too has a lifetime of memories, her personal Kodak moments. Her pictures proving that she too had something to hold on to while she too was involved in a search. “Sam, it has been a long life for the both of us, we have spent many thoughts, dreams, wishes, and even years to get to this point. You are the one person who knows everything about me and the many directions of my life. All we are doing here is putting faces to our past. A past that I don’t think I need to say that we both wish we had a lot sooner than on the eve of your eighty-first birthday. Let us put away the photo albums and share this moonlight in each other’s arms”.

The porch swing that night shared the rhythms of love, the back and forth pendulum motion kept time with the beating of their chemically enhanced heartbeats. Sam had his arm around Allie; she had her head on his withering shoulder. Sam wore a blue windbreaker, a flannel shirt, with a white t-shirt, pair of dark blue slacks, and a pair of blue slip off shoes. Allie was wearing a housedress with a tiger stripe print, white socks, a pair of slippers and a white knit sweater.

Time was the essence for them; both had waited for this moment for a lot longer than most people. They found each other over forty years ago, and from that moment on they hoped that their life’s path would cross. It was a long wait for the two of them but they proved that old adage that good things come to those who wait. They both realized that, even though they both were involved in their lives, a lot of things have passed between them. Both of them shared a life with other people, Sam was married twice before, never finding true happiness until he met Allie. She was committed to making her marriage last the duration of ‘to death do us part’. If she realized, in the beginning that she would meet Mr. Right, a few years after saying “I do“, she might have waited to get married. All of that is irrelevant, now they finally have each other. They have this moonlit night, this porch swing, and this hiccup in time to share their undying love.

Sam stops the rocking of the porch swing, he looks at Allie and fidgets for a couple of seconds and says, “Allie if I had my whole life to live over again, I don’t know if I would. There are never guarantees about the curves life is going to throw you. I also can look back on my life and say this with surety, ‘that you were the best thing that ever happened in my life.”

Allie is sitting on the porch swing, wishing the porch light would be off so she could hide her tears from the man that she has loved for all of these years. Since the passing of her husband, almost two years now, all she has thought about was being with this man. Her thoughts were never allowed to be more than just that, so she passed the years away with her writing and her thoughts of Sam. Sometimes the daily struggle was almost too much for her to bear especially after her husband was diagnosed with heart disease. She watched helplessly as her husband withered away to almost nothing before he died. He died in her outstretched arms in the hospital. Sam wanted to be at the funeral but they both decided that it wasn’t a good idea that he be there.

“Allie, what more can I say? I have been waiting for this moment so long that I still think I’m dreaming. I keep pinching myself to see if I’m not hallucinating your wonderful presence in my range of sight.” Sam now joins Allie in the uneasiness of letting the other seeing them cry. “I have been waiting over 40 years to actually say this to you. Allie, I love you with all my heart and I would be forever grateful to my Heavenly Father if you would consent to be my wife.”

The tears just stream down both of their faces. Allie leans forward and Sam does the same. They kiss. Their wrinkled lips come together for the first time in their lives. They kiss like two teenagers, except these two have years of experience and bottled up passion to put behind their lips. The porch swing starts to sway back and forth, matching the rhythms of their heartbeats. Waves on the pond ripple in time with the swinging motion of the glider.

This kiss was like the fountain of youth for this elderly couple because Sam was able to lift Allie up off the swing and carry her across the threshold of his front door. She was giggling the whole time. Once through the door he put her down. They spent the rest of the night doing more reminiscing, and a few more of those “teenager” type kisses. Neither one of them could remember when they enjoyed an evening so much in their lives.

The nearby rooster crowed, announcing the new day. The full moon was hiding behind the clouds as the morning sun was peaking its yellow face over the mountaintops. Sam was already awake and already in the garden picking flowers. When he had a big bouquet of his prize-winning roses, he walked back into the house singing. There was a definite spring in his step as he carried out this part of the day. After putting the flowers in his favorite vase he decided it was time to wake up Allie from her slumber.

He called out her name; there was no response from the guest bedroom. He knocked on the door, still no response. He turned the knob on the door, pulled it open and looked in on her. She lay there on the bed. He called out her name one more time and still no movement did she make. He walked over to her and shook her. Her skin felt cold and clammy. She was a little blue around her lips. Sam knew what this meant; it meant that he was going to live out the rest of his days in complete loneliness. He was once again without his Allie, only this time he wasn’t going to hear her say that she loves him anymore. He knows that she died happy. He walked out to the living room and sat his heavy heart on the couch. After he regained his thoughts he called for the ambulance.

He sat on the porch and watched as they wheeled the stretcher out. Her bodies lie under a white sheet. His thoughts and dreams were flowing faster than his old man tears were running down his cheeks. He looked to the sky and wondered why he couldn’t find happiness. He folded his hands in his lap, lowered his head and started to pray.

“Heavenly Father, I thank you for the blessing that you have given me. Thank you for allowing me to love Allie with all my heart, for all these years. I thank you for allowing me to rest my weary eyes on her lovely face. She was lovelier then I ever imagined. I thank you for allowing these wrinkled old lips to touch hers lovingly to mine. I thank you for allowing us to have a day together. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”

He never lifted his head back up. He never spoke another word. He never had another thought of his darlin’ Allie. Sam died shortly after saying that prayer. Will they meet in Heaven?