My heartaches lately with some existential longing so I search for stories in my collection that warm my heart. This one warms mine and hopefully warms yours too!

Every love story has a beautiful beginning and this one started with a red book.

The red book was leather and lined and smelled of perfume .
Some pages were wrinkled and tear stained and others filled with poetry and art .

Clearly this book was personal yet he couldn’t help himself he was lured in with mystery and whimsy .
He ravished the pages and yearned for more. He fell in love with words and art. He fell in love with life.

A lifetime ago George found a book in a science lab left on a seat that had  a girl’s name scrolled in the back with initials like a carving.They would meet after a class.
He overheard her talking to the instructor about her missing notebook.

Her name was Annie and she wore large glasses too big for her face.

When they finally met George felt the earth stop or maybe that was his heart.

“ Is this yours ?” he finally asked ?” this sounded more like a gush of syllables falling out of his mouth.

She peered into his soul that day as she reached her hand out for her book.This was the beginning.

This was magic.

The day that life became extraordinary .

George is a family name says a handsome older  man standing in front of a congregation with his head bowed. George, my father loved my mother Annie so much.

There wasn’t a day that Dad didn’t share that story of how they first met. The story of her and her Red Book. This became our story. A beautiful love story.

It really was a miracle my father would say how  a man of science could be grounded and supported by a woman with sweetness and words.

The red book would become the first of many books my mother would publish sealed with love and a kiss.

People joked that following each baby – each one of our births that she birthed a book. My father was sturdy and solid, a man of science.

My mother Annie was blossoms and the sweetness of honey and together they formed a unit a relationship which would become the foundation of a legacy .

This legacy friends and family is you! George paused , looking up as tears began to fall and George slowly walked to the casket and placed a faded red book in his father’s lap. “ Say hello to momma” he whispered.