Earlier this year, a couple of girlfriends and I got into a somewhat controversial debate about the idea of happily ever after.
One girl proudly proclaimed she didn’t believe in it.
“You know you are sitting next to an engaged woman,” I asked poking fun.
“Well, what do you think Yaszy?” Channing asked.
“Of course I do,” I said.
I feel like I’ve always believed in happily ever afters. It’s not because I am naïve to believe in perfect love or a perfect relationship. It’s quite the contrary. I know it’s impossible to have a perfect relationship because nobody is perfect.
I believe that love hurts sometimes. Because you love, you are going to go through some things, and as I said that day in my friend’s penthouse, you just have to decide who you are willing to go through it with.
Then, I met the Lous affirming what I had said that first week of January.
Well, I didn’t actually meet them just yet. I kind-of just spy on them when they come into the restaurant every Thursday. I heard about them long before I saw them. I am told they call before they arrive just to ensure their favorite server is working. We’ll call him E.
But when I saw them, I couldn’t stop staring.
They had just finished eating lunch and was preparing to head to the towncar that sat idling outside. I watched as Mr. Lou put on Mrs. Lou’s coat. Then her gloves. Then her blue hat.
I watched as he sat down on the booth’s chair so that he could zip up her coat making sure he doesn’t pinch her neck. He did that not before making her hand cup her purse that was strapped across her body so that it wouldn’t be in his way.
In that moment, I turned to E and told him “I just love them. They are so cute.”
Before going to place their doggy bags in their trunk, E told me that he is a retired doctor and she is a retired teacher. They met in New York City when they were students and have been married for 50 years.
Last week, as I watched Mr. Lou dress his wife for the nip in the air, our hostess said he even feeds her wiping off her mouth. She described it as almost child-like making me smile.
“I always say when I find a man, I want a man to love me like that,” our hostess said in her thick Colombian accent. “Because that man loves her.”
Just in that moment, they slowly walked past us strolling arm and arm. Mrs. Lou’s arm just barely reaching the crevice of Mr. Lou’s arm.
As I watched him open her car door, I made a small wish saying should anything prevent me from properly caring for myself, I hope my husband loves me like Mr. Lou loves his wife.
I hope to have a relationship that transcends decades. I hope to have a love that is caring, nurturing, and oh-so very selfless.
I am sure they had rough patches as students, employees and parents, but I love that they just decided to keep caring for each other. Despite the hurt, pain and sometimes inconvenience.
That’s my idea of happily ever after.
