Now, that's love.

For as long as I can remember, I have had an affinity for the elderly.  

There's something about sitting with a person that has lived out decades.  

Hearing their stories.  

Imagining their heartaches.   

Celebrating their triumphs.

Trying to wrap my head around history

as I will never experience it.

This precious couple has been married for 71 years.  

71 years, people.  

Some of us will not even get to grace this earth for that long.

Actually, to get it right, it was 71 years, 6 months, and 22 days

when these portraits were taken (per the ever so grateful husband).  

I have had the utmost pleasure of working with these beautiful people 

as they rehabilitate from broken hips, strokes, and other ailments

that often come when you age in to your nineties.

  

And what oozes out of them is love.

Grace.  

For one another.  

For their children.  

For their caretakers. 

Joy.

At the simple gesture of waking up and having one more day to love.

I can't help but glory in their lives.

This is how it's supposed to be.

Long and full lives, surely not without their share

of disappointments and tragedies along the way.

But buffered in love.  Faith.  Hope.

It's like a little glimpse of heaven through the eyes

of Ruth and Lawston

as they joyfully blow bubbles,

and snuggle to keep warm.

Now that, my friends, is love.