Dinner, gifts and celebration

I have given the book "In the Spirit of Jershon" to all our children, sisters, aunts and uncles and dear friends but to this day, no one has thanked me for it or told me if they even read the book in which I wrote a chapter. In one home, the book is not even on their shelf which means that they threw it away but were embarrassed to say that so they made up a story that their dog had shewed it like if I was dumb to believe that but today for the first time I gave a copy of the book to the Phillips and they had tears on their eyes as they thank me. It was their 54^th Wedding anniversary. We took them to eat at Don Julio an Argentine famous restaurant and we also had a box of high quality chocolates and another small gift for Ann’s purse but what they loved receiving was the book. Finally, someone who appreciates something I wrote. 

 

Is interesting to see an older couple with health issues serving the way the Phillips do. They are loyal to their faith which expands to all they do including their marriage. I love to be with couples with such high degree of commitment. Here in Argentina we got twelve older couples serving. They lived productive lives and are still producing after retirement. They are great examples to me. I remember one time around Valentines in the Philippines, when we used to hold the Family Home Evenings with the senior couples, we played fun games, told stories and even had a type of Newly Wed game. It was hilarious. I was hoping that by this Valentine we could have gotten them together but the COVID cases are increasing. 

 

I was hoping to do some Italian dinner with a tenor singing or do a story telling contest to see if we could tell which story belonged to each couple or match the faces with their wedding photo. It’s so cool to see how beautiful and young they once were. I remember going to visit Mimi when she lived in an assisting living place and saw a lot of widows who had fun stories to tell. They lit up just like young girls falling in love all over again as they shared their stories with us.  And what great stories they were!  The personality of each Grandma showed through as she told her own story.

  

The most romantic story of the night was the one of Betty Jane and her young husband.  They married during the depression and they had no money.  Betty Jane desperately longed to just have one new dress, but she didn’t want to ask her husband for any money as they were incredibly poor.  One day when she was pregnant with their first child he came home and handed her a $20 bill and told her he wanted her to have a new dress.  That meant the world to her.  She became choked up at this part of the story and let us know that she wasn’t sure she could get through the next part because the love of her life had passed away just a few short years ago and she missed him so….  She said that about two weeks before his death he came home very sick and told her to get dressed to go into town.  She said he rarely commanded her around like that so she knew it was important.  When they got downtown he took her hand and walked her into a dress shop and took her back to the rack of her size and told her to try several of the dresses on.  She did and loved them all.  He asked her which dressed she wanted most, and she turned and asked him which he preferred most on her.  He turned to the sales woman and told her to ring up all the dresses for his wife – he wanted her to have all the beautiful dresses.  He died just over a week later. What a romantic loving gesture of her husband and the tremendous love she had for him and that is the type of love I see showed by Ann and Gregg to each other. I am grateful to know them and to know that they appreciate us, our children and everything we do for them and give them. 

 

Con amor,

Vero