…till death do us part.

This story is not about A and me (for a change), it’s not about some kind of zoo or sweets, it’s not about the prince in his shining armor.

This story is about my grandparents. Dedicated to my parents and everyone who was lucky enough to love someone with all their heart and in return were loved back.
My grandparents have been together about 40 years, 35 out of them they’ve been married and I still hope for another 10, 15, 20, 25 years. Unfortunately this is not up to me and sadly – tomorrow could already be the last day.

My grandma loves my grandpa with all her heart – she always did and in my mind there was never a doubt about that. She did everything for him early on and she never asked for anything in return. I love my grandma dearly – I love her not only because of who she is and what she does but because she’s my friend and she always stood up for me and she protected me from many things that – as I learn now – no one can be protected from but she made it easy on me.

My grandpa is a funny man, a hard worker and a family-person. Everything he does, he does because he believes in it. He gives everyone a fair chance because he believes that everyone deserves one and two and three and he doesn’t judge people. He’s a generous man with much love to give.
So obviously my grandparents were made for each other, obviously they have what we all want… Obviously.
In their lifetime they had to overcome many issues, they had to work through the challenges live put them through and they had to be strong for each other. No, my grandparents didn’t live an easy life.


Because they were so great, so protective of me – I never had to experience any of this from first hand, they protected me from all their problems… like I said though, some things you can’t be protected from, no matter how hard you try.
When I was living in the states I got a very disturbing phone call one day, I learnt that my grandma had cancer and that they’ll try anything to help her but no one can say for sure, if she’ll be able to survive it. That was in March 2009. Now – 2 years later – she fought for her life. She fought so hard, that at times we all died a little, at other times – better times – we all got a second wind and we all thought she’ll get better and maybe live another 30 years – healthy. The doctors gave my grandma 5 years top and we’re 2 years into it. So you can see that we’re all living with a ticking time bomb.


However, this is not the reason why I am blogging today. So you see, my grandparents have been together for 38 years before they learnt that my grandma was ill and over the last two years the dynamics changed. My grandma was always the strong one, always the last man standing and always the fighter. She was the origin of all live and we all – when ever we had any problems – would go to her and talk to her about it. Nowadays we only come when she feels well enough for us to be over, obviously no one wants to put more stress on her.

We try to be careful with everything we say and do, for the same reason, why she did this for us – to protect her. And although my grandma is the one with all the physical pain, my grandpa is the one living with a broken heart. He said that over the years they bought tents and chairs and fishing routs that once when he retires they’ll be able to go on camping trips and go fishing and enjoy being together. The current situation was not part of the plan. He said that he wishes he could take her pain away just for her to be able to enjoy living and that if he only were a rich man he would fly in all the geniuses of this world to cure her – we all know this is not how it works but someone might dream. He said that she was here for him for the past 40 years and now he won’t give up for her. He will not back down and he will be the last one standing for her.

So I see what my grandparents have and I see that no matter what, there’s no easy way. If you do love someone you walk through fire for them without flinching once, you guide them and you let yourself be guided and although you know you can’t help them, you want to fight for them, you want to take their pain away and when they are happy, you are happy.

I can’t help but think that till death do us part is not the proper expression for what we actually want to say, when we get married. I think, what we actually want to say is thank you, thank you for loving me and for letting me love you. Thank you for being here for me and letting me be here for you and thank you for letting me be part of you. Thank you for all the miserable hours that we will spend together and thank you even more for all the fun we will have. Thank you for your humor and your laughter. But most of all thank you, that even if death does part us, that we will still be together. Always.