This letter about a husband’s and wife’s ordeal has been
circulating the internet for around 10 years.
It was rumored to have been first submitted to a news site in
Malaysia. The author remains anonymous.
We hope you enjoy this powerful snapshot of love:
30 Days
of Carrying My Wife.
I got home one night and, as my wife served dinner, I held
her hand and said, “I want a divorce.” She didn’t seem to be annoyed by my
words. Instead, she softly asked me why. I avoided the question, and this made
her angry. She threw down the chopsticks and shouted, “You are not a man!” We
didn’t talk to each other that night. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to
find out what had happened to our marriage, but I could hardly give her a
satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Jane. I didn’t love her anymore.
I just pitied her!
With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement
stating that she could keep the house, the car, and a 30% share of my company.
She glanced at it and tore it to pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of
her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time,
resources and energy, but I could not take back what I had said. She finally
cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see in the first
place, and the idea of divorce felt more real now.
I got home very late from work the next day, and found her
writing something at the table. I didn’t have dinner, I just went straight to
bed and fell asleep.
In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she
didn’t want anything from me, but requested that for the next month we both
struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son
had his exams in a month, and she didn’t want to disrupt him with a broken
marriage.
She also asked me to recall how I had carried her into out
bridal room on our wedding day, and requested that I now carry her out of our
bedroom to the front door every morning for the month’s duration. I thought she
was going crazy, but to make our last days together bearable, I accepted her odd
request.
We were both pretty clumsy about it when I carried her out
on the first day, but our son was joyfully clapping his hands behind us,
singing, “Daddy is holding mommy in his arms!” His words triggered a sense of
pain in me. I carried her from the bedroom to the living room, and then to the
door. She closed her eyes and softly said, “Don’t tell our son about the
divorce.” I nodded and put her down outside the door.
We weren’t as clumsy on the second day. She leaned on my
chest, and I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn’t
really looked at this woman for a long time. She was not young anymore. There
were fine wrinkles on her face, and her hair was graying! Our marriage had
taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.
On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of
intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to
me. On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was
growing again. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by, and I
suddenly realized that she was getting very thin.
One morning it hit me how she was burying so much pain and
bitterness in her heart, and without really thinking about it, I reached out
and touched her head. Our son came in at that moment and said, “Dad, it’s time
to carry mom out!”
To him, seeing his father carry his mother out had become an
essential part of every morning. My wife gestured to our son to come closer,
and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might
start changing my mind. I carried her in my arms, and her hand naturally
wrapped around my neck. I held her body tightly, just like on our wedding day.
On the last day, when I held her in my arms, I could hardly
move a step. I knew what I had to do. I drove to Jane’s place, walked upstairs
and said, “I’m sorry, Jane, but I do not want to divorce my wife anymore”.
It all became very clear to me. I had carried my wife into
our home on our wedding day, and I am to hold her “until death do us apart”. I
bought a bouquet of flowers for my wife on my way home, and when the salesgirl
asked me what to write on the card, I smiled and said, “I’ll carry you out
every morning until death do us apart”.
I got home, flowers in my hands, and a big smile on my face.
But my wife had died in her sleep while I was away. It turns out that she’d
been fighting cancer for a few months now, but I was too busy with Jane to even
notice. She knew that she would die soon, but wanted to save me from a negative
reaction from our son (in case we push through with the divorce). In the eyes
of our son, at least, I would still appear to have been a loving husband. I
carried her out for the last time…
The small details of our lives, that I initially thought were
boring and unimportant, are what really matters in a relationship; not the
mansion, the car, personal property or the money in the bank. These things may
create an environment conducive for happiness, but they cannot provide
happiness in-and-of themselves.
So find time to be your lover’s friend, and to do those
little things for each other that build intimacy.
Many people do not realize how close they are to success
when they give up.
Source : Healthis wealth of heart