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     Did you ever notice older couples sitting in silence over breakfast in a restaurant? Looking at a woman staring into nowhere with a blank face, I defined that silence as tiredness from each other once and forever.
I was not surprised that living for 50-60 years together people lost interest in each other long time ago and have nothing to talk about. That proved the point of later studies that with longevity people will get married and remarried more often than before.
    Last Saturday my husband and I ended sitting next to another silent couple in a cafe. The husband and wife looked disengaged and disconnected.  Glancing at a gentleman reading a newspaper, while his wife fixed her look at something non-existing right in front of her, probably regretting that life was not as she wanted, I leaned toward my husband and commented how I would never want to live like that.
     Something made me glance at the wife one more time. I was about to conclude my brief observation with the same old diagnosis and to turn my face away when I noticed certain calmness around the woman. It was something I missed before: peace and quiet joy, not tiredness. I carefully looked at the husband, who just took a sip of coffee in silence, and saw the same quiet and loving look. The couple didn't exchange a single word, but they both radiated confidence in each other's loyalty and commitment. That was truly a statement of, "Till death do us part..."
     I leaned over my husband's shoulder and whispered, "I want this when we get old." When two people can be completely comfortable in silence, that's love.
   
   
   

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