My grandmother passed recently while visiting with my aunt nearby. She was not used to the altitude, and we believe that is the reason for her heart attack that proved fatal.

My dad took a 2 hour-long drive to see my grandfather and aunt. He wasn’t there for himself, and he wasn’t there for my grandmother. He was terribly worried about my grandpa. When he returned, he said his dad was lonely, even within a day.

I saw my grandpa today, he spent the time telling us stories about his childhood, and about my grandma. This is the story of how they met as I remember him telling it:

“We lived in this little town together, and the fraternities and sororities would hold parties. Big, formal parties, with us guys in tuxes in the girls in gowns. For some reason, your grandma asked me to go with her. I was fifteen, and I bought a tux for twenty-five dollars that was a size to big and flopped over my wrists. After setting up the party, I rushed home to get ready and so I could pick her up. I walked to her place, and we walked to the party together. And from that first dance, I knew she was the woman I wanted to marry.”

My grandmother died when she was ninety, after dating/being married to my grandfather for seventy-five years. With the divorce and abandonment rate so high in this day and age, they are truly an inspiration to me. They encompass what true love really means. They stuck together through everything, and without that, I wouldn’t be here today, being awed by the ultimate high school sweethearts.