My B-side

What If

The old couple lay in their bed dying, one cold February night. The old man turns to his wife and says, "If I had to go back and do it all over again, I'd pick you to do it all over with. I'd still pick you." Maybe somewhere right now this is being passed from one grayed soulmate to another. But I worry that it is said all too little and meant even less. Because who dies in love but those who are young? Who really loves the same person their entire life and actually has the opportunity...no, no, the privilege to spend all their 80 something years with the only person they've ever truly wanted? I can't help but think that my mother wouldn't pick her fiancee at the end of the day but rather my father, and would my grandmother only pick my grandfather because she knew no other? And would I only pick my husband because I'd feel guilty not to?

posted by Melissa at 02:33