Till Death Do Us Part

Mary King Bradley

Joe and Mary had a good marriage. When their son was born, they were overjoyed. When he died, they found strength and solace in one another. Joe did not blame Mary for the accident. Their grief brought them together. They remained married for the rest of their lives.

This is not what happened.

Jo and Marvin were newlyweds. They were deeply in love. When he was diagnosed with a terminal illness less than a year into their marriage, they were devastated, but their love was stronger than his slow, lingering death. Her husband accepted his fate with astonishing grace and did everything he could to make their remaining time meaningful. She wasn’t bothered at all by the bodily fluids, the flow of verbal obscenities as his illness progressed. During his illness, she never had to ask for help. Family, friends, and colleagues said what she needed to hear. They shared the load. After his death, Marvin’s family told her how much her care for him had meant to them. She remained a valued member of their family.

This is not what happened.

Mervin and Joyce enjoyed a long and uneventful marriage. Always able to talk to each other about anything and everything, they rarely fought. They joked about going together to their final reward, but they knew this might not happen. When Mervin was hospitalized at age ninety, Joyce remained at his side. Radiating serene calm, she always had a smile for him. When he told her it was so hard to leave, she told him how much she loved him, that she would be fine. She held his hand as he closed his eyes for the final time. After his death, she lived another eight years, sustained by happy memories of their life together.

They lived together. They cried together. They died happily ever after.

This is not what happened.