We were young once. There was no need then to think about a future where one of us would have to live without the other. We had so much life ahead of us. But the years have come and gone and now we are approaching, no, we are in, our final years. There’s no way to know how many of those years we will still have to share our dreams, our triumphs, our sorrows, but our faces are showing the time that has past. I can see the old woman and man emerging in the lines and sags. Health issues are more serious these days. There is no guarantee for tomorrow.

Our friends are losing their life partners. The generation above us is almost extinct. Our children are adults with lives of their own. Time has somehow betrayed us.

Fears crop up in the dead of night. I reach out to him and, thankfully, he’s still there beside me. He has always been my strength. He is my protector and my love. The thought of him being gone leaves me shaken. The thought of me leaving him, breaks my heart. There will be struggles and challenges ahead for us, and I know that, somehow, we will do our best for each other. But the emptiness that would follow such a deep loss is bottomless. It would leave a hole so huge that the darkness would overwhelm and snuff out any beam of light.

The inevitable will one day be here. So there is no more time to waste. It is time to rejoice for every moment that we still have to share. It is time to think of today, as tomorrow’s dreams may be left unfulfilled.