Last weekend we took our yearly mountain bike ride, one of our stops was Maggie Valley, NC, which is a gorgeous area. When we were packing up the bike to head home there was a little older gentleman named Clint cleaning off his windshield on his suv. I noticed his tag said he was a Veteran so I went & thanked him for his service. He informed me that he had been retired for 40 years but spent 20 years in the military. He was a very humble little man.
I walked back to the bike & told Michael that he was a Veteran so Michael then walked over to the man & thanked him. He started telling us that he & his soul mate of 54 years used to come to the mountains every year but she passed away 7 years ago. He was from FL & decided to retrace their steps. Talking to him just broke my heart, the thought of him going that far by himself to retrace steps & relive past memories just made my heart ache for him.
We talked with him for a quite a while & he said he owned a bike but his wife was always too scared to ride. He told me that he was proud of me for riding with Michael because there was nothing like getting that time together that you could never do enough together & we should always enjoy each & every moment together.
I'm so thankful that God has given me such a wonderful husband but standing there talking to Clint just made me feel thankful even more. Michael was standing there telling Clint what a wonderful wife he had & how we enjoy riding because it's "our" time. There are no phones, no tv just us. If everyone loved their wife as much as Michael loves me there wouldn't be a need for divorce lawyers. I hear it all the time when Michael is talking about me & sometimes he doesn't even know I can hear him.
We notice that Clint was sitting in the rocking chairs while we were getting on the bike & once we pulled out of the parking lot he went into the hotel. As we pulled out tears just streamed down my face, sadness for Clint but joyful for Michael & myself. I pray that I will never lose sight of the times we have whether good or bad & I'm so blessed that God gave me Michael to share my life with.
