Thoughts on 175 days of quarantine
Today is 9/11 and every September 11th I can't help to think of tragic events and the wicked world we live in. A world where you find people who murder, who commit adultery, who steal, who lie, etc. This world lacks people with integrity. Bottom line at the end of the day integrity it's about keeping those sacred covenants and commandments from our Heavenly Father.
Imagine a world where people obey the ten commandments, or just four even. What about keeping four of the commandments where no one would lie, or steal, or murder, or commit adultery. Just by keeping those four, this world would be so blessed and families and societies would be so much happier.
Indeed, this is a wicked world we live in but there is also goodness and people who are doing the best they can to be righteous and by that I don't mean people who are perfect but people who strive to have integrity and keep their covenants and when they fall short, they repent. Every September 11th I feel a little down and the only thing that brightens up my day is to look for the goodness around me and successful stories of people who get it!
I have been reading in my journal from 39 years ago in 1981 and thought about what would I have done if I had known then what I know now? that is why it never ceases to amaze me when I learn about beautiful long lasting love stories, maybe because it's still a mystery to me how some people get so lucky. I don't remember exactly who this guy is but this is what he wrote:
"Late one foggy evening at a lonely, dark, train station near the coast in Calais, France in 1980, I was waiting by myself on the train station platform for my train to arrive to take me back to another town where I lived. While I waited for my train to arrive, I slowly wandered around the area, and walked past a little gift shop that was surprisingly still open.
In the display window I spotted a silver, heart-shaped necklace that had the words “Je t’aime” written on it—French for “I love you.” In an instant I realized that one day in my future, I would meet a pretty girl and want to marry her. All the money I had was spent on my mission, and all I had in my wallet to get me through the month was barely enough to buy it. I knew that when I would return to the states, I would be penniless and if I met that special girl, I would be broke and have nothing to give her when we got engaged—that is, if it happened right away.
I went inside and bought that necklace and kept it hidden in my personal belongings as I traveled all over northern France and southern Belgium, as well as to London on my way home over a year later. I never showed it to anyone. Well, meeting that girl happened a lot faster than I had planned when I got home in 1981. I had to wait until my first pay day to be able to take her on our first date; we got engaged 9 days later, and married 90 days after that.
My suspicions about my future financial status proved to be true; I had no money. So, we got engaged with the only thing I had to give her—that necklace. Despite our poverty at first, she believed in me. She always wore that necklace until all our babies kept grabbing it. She was so afraid something was going to happen to it, she had it mounted in a display frame along with the dried flowers from her wedding bouquet, her gloves, and white handkerchief, where it remains to this day as a museum relic from our history.
Years later I bought her a gold version of that necklace, imported from France, that says “Je t’aime” and she wears it everywhere. Although the silver has tarnished on that little French keepsake of major significance, I have never forgotten how I felt so long ago, and so far away. My heart has never tarnished. So, after 39 years of doing our best to make a life, to run a business, raise our kids, pay the bills, play with grandbabies, go after new (and scary) ventures, and stay as far from poverty as we can, I’m grateful for the journey. For our 39th, I wish my bride a wonderful anniversary and will always tell her, “Je t’aims.”
After reading his story, I felt optimistic about those people out there who get it right and make it happen! There is hope! !
Con amor,
Vero
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