A few years ago I worked at a small start up and there was a man whose story would really touch me. This past weekend I went to his memorial service and met some of his friends, family, and his wife. The service made me realize how little you may know about your co-workers because you either don’t spend time with them, talk to them, or only keep superficial conversations.
The story of how he fell in love with his wife and the enduring love they had for each other was ultimately heartbreaking as he passed away at the tender age of 32.
The story that sticks out most in my mind is of when they had first began dating. To keep it simple, J will be the wife and M will be the husband.
J and M had just moved in together and were very fresh out of college. At their first jobs with little savings, they lived frugally.
During Thanksgiving, J wanted to go home but could not afford a plane ticket and was down about it.
One morning, J came out of the bedroom to find a stack of 52 neatly cut up barcodes from Wendy’s drink cups.
Well, M, sensing how important it was for J to go visit her family for the holiday, had gone out in the middle of the night to Wendy’s and combed through the trash to painstakingly clean and cut the barcodes off the cups. You see, Wendy’s and US Airways was running a promotion at the time. If you collected 26 bar codes, you could get a plane ticket to anywhere in the US.
Needless to say, J and M went home for the holidays.
The story really touched me as a testament to true love and is why I won’t settle for anything less.
We’ll miss you M, and take care of J for you!
Love, Anonymous 