I should have awakened myself as early as the tick of the first second that signals the last hour of the passing day and the turning point to the dawn of a grand new day. By that moment I should have offered my ever dearest Letty the divine bouquet of love and devotion that ever fills the depths of my heart on her birthday. Yet, the forlorn reality of a diminished physical vigor of an aging lover, sets a deep sleep on the weary eyes that hours passed by unnoticed until the cocks crowed and the usual morning call for comfort awakened my soundly sleeping soul.
The crack of dawn breaks the seemingly long and weary night, and the profundity of my affection reverberate perpetually as to prompt me to serenade her with a birthday song written long before my lifetime:
Happy birthday my darling,
And many, many more
Another year had passed,
And I love you even more
Your eyes I love to see,
Your hair I love to touch,
Your lips I love to kiss
I love you oh, so very much
Tomorrow starts a new year,
And memories could wait
I want to say I love you,
Darling, happy birthday
The gift I have for you
Is a promise to be true
To love you through the years
And never ever bring you tears
Tomorrow starts a new year,
And memories could wait
I want to say I love you,
Darling, happy birthday
As she awakened and we hugged tightly together, stirred by the profoundness of our affection and love for each other, I sang for her the song which throughout our marriage have remained a binding melody---No Other Love. And while sharing morsels of memories gone by, I was prompted to recite with fondness, although occasionally fragmented by a somewhat ebbing memory, the lines of Shakespeare’s sonnet 116:
“Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove;
O no! it is an ever fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wondering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.”
(William Shakespeare, 1564-1616)
In a short while the alarm rang, then with hands clasped, we sat together in a moment of prayer to the Most High in expressions of gratitude for the wonderful new day he added into our lives; and for Letty a prayer of thankfulness for the passing of another challenging but fruitful year and welcoming the blessings of a new year in her yet continuing mortal journey.
As the sunrise of her 69th birthday slowly breaks the dark horizon, and imperceptively consumed the passing hours of a busy morning for the celebrant, my mind was again transported to the wonderful memories of the kind of life she lives.
She has been retired in public service for already six years, but of her voluntary service in the church and kingdom of God on earth, she expects no retirement entitlement. As a matter of fact, she even accept an additional major calling as Relief Society President again, in our branch of the church. She understood best as a teacher of the Institute class that service is a crowning principle. Her long and dedicated service in the church for more than 40 years, has been motivated by her love of God and His people. Despite her physical limitations consequent to the natural deterioration of the mortal body related to aging, she determined to endure well to the end.
In her life of service with real intent, I perceived best the profound and reflective import of the Lord’s declaration and promise, “I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end. Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory.” (D & C 76:5-6.)
At age 69, she should have been relaxing and enjoying the remaining days, months and years of her life as many retirees her age do. Yet, even when she should have been supposedly under the care of our children, she instead continues her service in the family, not even minding the pains of a frozen shoulder and faltering feet. Perhaps her vision goes far beyond the infirmities and weaknesses of the flesh, as she learns of the assurance that, “When the frailties and imperfections of mortality are left behind, in the glorified state of the blessed hereafter,... shall woman be recompensed in rich measure for all the injustice that womanhood has endured in mortality. Then shall woman reign by divine right, a queen in the resplendent realm of her glorified state, even as exalted man shall stand, priest and king unto the Most High God. Mortal eye cannot see nor mind comprehend the beauty, glory, and majesty of a righteous woman made perfect in the celestial kingdom of God.” (James E. Talmage, The Eternity of Sex, quoted by Jeffrey R. Holland, To My Friends, p. 238.)
While the sunset of life slowly dims, her light ever so brilliantly shines as she stands up the zenith of her consecrated life; a beacon which provides flares for our family to follow along the path to eternity.
The youthful beauty, vigor and vitality are now resigned beneath the shadows of the passing years leaving behind silhouettes of a once most adorable outward countenance. Yet, within the loop of her inherently divine soul, now physically waned by the the process of aging, is hidden and permanently kept aglow, the loveliness and splendor which springs from the timeless wonders of eternity.
I am hopeful and faithfully inclined that my ever dearest Letty, by her sheer dedication and devotion to every inspired call for service in God’s kingdom, and her obedience to God and His commandments, will be rewarded, in due time of the Lord, the crown of glory which He promised “shall follow after much tribulation.” (see D & C 58:2-4.)
As ever, my heart overflows with gratitude and love for her unconquerable desire to serve God and family and her inexplicable determination to move on through the remaining laps of life’s race undeterred by the constant negative variables along the way; joyfully content of whatever is laid on the table of a most challenging mortality; ever positively hoping that after enduring well in service and defeating all the trials there will come a wondrous reckoning of a blessed and glorious eternal life.
HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY EVER DEAREST AND DEARLY BELOVED, THE ONLY ONE THAT OCCUPIES THE DEEPEST CHAMBER OF MY HEART, EVEN MY ETERNAL PARTNER---LETTY!
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