Valentine's Day Remembrance

How you looked the first day I saw you

in your smart business suit

How you looked the day we wed

Valentine's Day, 1987

You were so handsome in your white tux jacket

with red cummerbund

We smiled till our faces hurt

And laughed and danced as we shared the day

Today I will remember how you looked when you worked

A green jacket or sometimes blue

Your favorite light blue jeans-cut pants

A cowboy style shirt

Always clean shaven, neat hair, bright green eyes,

and always a smile.

Today I will remember the great times we shared

And with those I'll remember the bad times

when we cried together over things we could not solve

Today I will remember how we leaned on each other

through all those hard times

The times we were so stricken as we watched

all our hard work spin wildly down the drain

Today I will remember and rejoice in the last anniversary we shared

Valentine's Day, 2003

Again we danced, though much slower now

for illness had taken the spring from your steps.

I'm so glad we had that day together and wish there had been some more

I will remember how illness had changed your look and your mind.

The days I walked on alone, even though you were still with me.

Today I will remember the day you walked on before me

Into the land no living person knows

Today I will play your favorite songs again

I will hear your soft Kansas voice in my mind

And wipe away my tears

For today I will remember that you now live

In a land that has no tears, no pain, no heartache

And in these memories I will rejoice.

For one day I will join you there

and we will smile and laugh and dance again.

In a time and place that has no end.