My cousin Claire posted a photo that popped up on my Facebook newsfeed today. It was of my grandparents, hugging each other on a boat on a lake. Next to them, little, tan, blond and wearing arm floaties is my cousin James. We were at a lake house in Virginia in the summer, my parents and my sister, my aunt and uncle and three cousins, and my grandparents. I remember so litte of this vacation. The lake was cold, the sun was hot, nothing of significance. I don’t know why it doesn’t stand out in my shoddy memory like our trips to the Jersey Shore, or to Disney World. Maybe I haven’t seen many pictures, or I haven’t re-lived it through home videos. My only real memory is catching my grandmother sneaking a cigarette in the driveway, near the car. I know I wasn’t supposed to see that.
Somehow that frequently happened to me, seeing things I wasn’t supposed to see.
The picture must be 25 years old. That little blond boy is 28 now, and towers over us all. That lovely grandma, that “sneaky little grandma” as my sister called her, she’s gone now. Officially for almost 13 years, although we lost her, the real “her” that made up our grandmother, much earlier. And yet here she is, appearing on Facebook like she was just on that boat this year, this summer, smiling with my grandfather’s arms around her, her youngest grandson at her side.
The photo re-appeared tonight because my grandfather commented on it. My cousins and I had already shared our thoughts when it was posted, how much we loved them, how they loved each other. But he hadn’t weighed in, possibly because he hadn’t seen it before tonight, or perhaps because he’s almost 94 and commenting on Facebook pictures isn’t part of his daily routine. I read what he wrote today, and then re-read it, again and again, because his sentiments warranted that.
“Anyone who knew her loved her, but not as much as I. She is in my thoughts and prayers every day. I will love her until I die and be with her again. Wasn’t she beautiful?”
Most of the pictures I find of my grandparents throughout my life and before, they are hugging, their love obvious to anyone who sees these images. I remember too the rest of it, what we can’t see in the photos-the bickering, the picking, the annoyances. But what endures is a fierce love. When my grandmother died, after Alzheimer’s had ravaged her mind and body, something in my grandfather went with her. A light maybe, or a lightness. Maybe it dimmed in devastation of witnessing what she went through in her last days. Or maybe in the realization that he would never again love anyone as he loved her, the mother of his four girls, his wife of over 60 years.
It made me start to think, about love, about loss, and about what happens when the two meet.
How many chances do we get to love? What if we experience that love, that exquisite, nothing-can-ever-be-this-good-again love, and what if it is lost? Can we ever truly let it go, and move on? Can we ever love that way again?
Do we have an infinite amount of love to give?
I can anticipate what many people will say: of course. Of course the heart will continue to expand and contract, to love and love more. To find it’s match in another, to regenerate the broken pieces. Of course we have an infinite amount of love to give.
But I don’t know.
What if we never quite recover from these monumental losses? What if the patches holding together those little slivers of our heart aren’t strong enough, aren’t laid perfectly over the cracks? What if we never have that capacity to love again in equal measure?
My grandfather married again. He loved his second wife. And, bless her heart, she probably saved his life. She lifted him out of a very dark place, and brought some of that light back to his eyes again. But not all of it, it seemed to me. Not all of what he had before.
And if we haven’t lost–can we just keep adding love without taking away from it? I’ve heard friends express concerns when debating having a second child. What if they could never love their second child as much as their first? Some stop trying, too afraid that they will never again find the magic they have with their firstborn, never really knowing if that love could grow to include another. Those who do have that second child always say yes, of course, their love broadened, it multiplied without diluting, allowing that magic to encompass them all. Can we really just keep adding ingredients, adding people into our hearts, without somehow distorting the recipe?
I wish I knew.
I am lucky in a way, I guess. I haven’t experienced that earth-shattering, world-altering, I-can’t-live-without-you love yet. I don’t have to wonder about myself if there’s enough love left. It’s all still there. It’s all ready. I can only hope that I do find that person, and that he recognizes my full heart with his own.
And hope that one day, he will say of me,
“Anyone who knew her loved her, but not as much as I”.
How gorgeous was my grandmother? So young and in love…
Many years later at their 50th wedding anniversary
LOVE
xx,
Katie
Katie
Confessions of an Imperfect Life 
Such a sweet, sweet post, Katie. I’m not sure I have an answer to your question because I wonder that, too. But thank you for sharing your grandparents’ beautiful story.
Thank you for reading Jen!! xx
Crying…I know that love and would add that yes, we’re an infinite source of it. Thanks for sharing, this was beautiful! Xo
And thank you for sharing it with your friends too…that means so much to me. xx
I MUST stop getting emotional at the office. I have no answers but that was beautiful.
Come on, I bet Ezra would let you cry on his shoulder! He loves that 🙂 xx
making me cry first thing! very well said 🙂
thank you liz! xx
Katie,
This really touched my heart as I also have Grandparents that have a deep love.
They have been married 65yrs and are still as in love as the day they married at 19yrs old. I know our big love is going to arrive and we’ll be ready.
XO
S
I’m so happy that you witnessed this kind of love too…it is really special to experience, even as a spectator. And you are so right–we are READY! xx
Wow i just love this post. like wow.
Aw, thank you so much Danielle–for reading and commenting. It’s very much appreciated. xx
Crying on the train, what a beautiful post. We can all only hope to love like that and have someone feel that way about us.
I know you have it Libtra–times 3. I hope to be blessed someday with the kind of beautiful family you have. It’s special for me just being around it too 🙂 xx
Kate
Thanks for posting this beautiful post. It made me laugh thinking of all the funny and amazing memories we have and also cry because I know what you mean about grandpa. He did love her more than I can even imagine loving someone. We are so lucky to have those memories and still have our grandpa around. This is my favorite post so far I think.
Love you and another beautifully written post. Xo
Kelly
Thanks Kel. We are very lucky to have been witness to such a great love….and to be a part of it too. xx
Reblogged this on The Manifest-Station and commented:
Katie Devine’s beautiful words.
So lovely. I love seeing love like this. It gives hope. Love you!
This just touched my heart. Thank you for sharing this.
This was so beautiful it made me cry.
Katie: thank you for sharing. My great aunt is on her way to joining my uncle at the age of 98; they were married for 70+ years. Isn’t it such a blessing to have strong examples of lasting love in our lives? I know I consider myself lucky, as I’m sure you do, to have come from such strong roots. XO, Annie