A quote: “I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter.” ~~ Walt Disney

I’ll start with a story …

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The unfamiliar clock on the nightstand read 11:30pm. The bottle of Tequila was two-thirds empty, and he still couldn’t sleep. He stared up at the hotel room ceiling, letting memories roll through, still lonely that the left side of the bed was empty.

A week of the same evenings and wondering how she felt waking up in the night with her own memories.

They had been an improbable couple. He remembered Josh saying that after he spotted her across the room. Improbable. Him — ponytailed, frayed jeans, guitar-callused fingers and chasing music-flavored dreams. Her — buttoned-down, upswept hair, practical professionalism. Surrounded by girlfriends who looked at him with narrowed eyes as he led her to the dance floor.

None of them understood how they completed each other. She gave him purpose, he gave her permission. There had been lots of unfamiliar ceilings, but they saw them (or were too busy to notice) together.

Earlier today, she looked up to find him as her ceiling. He looked into her eyes, wanting every single moment of their 49 years together to live all over again.

And when her eyes closed and the machines were turned off, he left her in her last room to find a bottle of Tequila and an improbable future without her.

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Now, it’s your turn.
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. featured image, cropped, Adobe Stock standard license