It is a curious fact that many of the most important events, those that effect many people for many years, seem entirely common place when they occur. Yet their consequences ripple through the years and touch the lives of hundreds and thousands of people.
About 70 years ago a man named Charlie dared his then fiance Ruth to attend an Air Cadet dance at Jefferson Barracks Missouri. Charlie's dare surely didn't seem like a life changing event at the time. But it was.
Ruth was a rather spirited Scotch Irish Catholic girl, so of course when her girlfriend ask her to go to the dance and Charlie dared her to go, she went. While there Ruth Hannah met James Bell, a young cadet from Detroit Michigan. They spent the dance together. That was the start of a love that lasted some 70 years and touched many lives.
When Ruth returned home that evening she told her mother that she had met the man she was going to merry! Her mother didn't take the news seriously, after all Ruth was engaged to Charlie and Jim was in the Army Air Corps and would leave soon. Ruth knew her own mind though. Charlie was soon unengaged and Jim and Ruth were courting. Later Jim would tell Ruth that he'd known that first dance that he was in love but had hesitated for fear that he'd scare her off to which Ruth replied that there wasn't anything that was going to scare her off. Love at first sight is real.
The couple were married, had five children, and lived full and rich lives. Today their family numbers some 30 plus. Jim died a few years ago. Ruth last week. They were devoted to each other throughout their long lives, through the good times and bad.
I think this is the definition of a life well lived. To love and be loved, to have family, and to be remembered.
1 comment:
This article was extremely interesting.
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