“Seeing how much he cared for her is an amazing reminder to make good decisions. Pick someone who you know will still be your best friend in 60 years. Who will still hold your hand in the good times and, more importantly, in the bad times.”
Some people might find these photos sad.
Others may enjoy the fact that they are proof of a very strong love that once existed on Earth.
Photo taken by the couple’s granddaughter, Emily Hime, says it is a snapshot of “something beautiful.” The beauty of love that doesn’t have rules.
On Chathan-Kent Hospice’s Facebook page, the pictures of her grandparents holding hands while her grandmother lies in her hospice bed went viral as “a special message of love.”
The photos were posted with a post that Hime had written.
“During my grandmother’s last few months, I was lucky enough to see something beautiful. And that was how much my grandparents loved each other,” Hime wrote.
The people in Hime’s family used to joke that grandpa couldn’t live without grandma because she did everything for him.
But toward the end of her life, those roles switched.
Grandpa had to make a big change. He had to learn how to do things he had never done before on a regular basis.
“This has made me realize that the most romantic love story isn’t about Romeo and Juliet, but about grandma and grandpa who grew old together. It shows grandpa standing by grandma during the hardest time of her life,” Hime wrote.
Grandpa did the laundry, cooked, and took his wife to all of her doctor’s appointments so she wouldn’t have to go alone while she was getting chemotherapy.
Hime wrote, “It’s the hospital staff talking about how impressed they were with his loyalty and how everyone loved watching them together, even people waiting in the waiting rooms.” “It was him being with her every day while she was in the hospital and every day while she was in hospice,” she said.
The American Cancer Society says that hospice care is a special kind of care that focuses on the quality of life of people with “advanced, life-limiting illness” and their caregivers.
At one point, Grandpa thought his wife was coming home, so he asked his granddaughter to help him make signs for the house.
He was by her side when she didn’t come home, rubbing her face and kissing her on the forehead.
“She looks better than ever. “Isn’t she beautiful?” he would say.
He told her every day that she was beautiful.
Every time he thought she might be unhappy, he would cry.
Even though he couldn’t stand the idea of her being in pain, he never left her side.
“They had the kind of love that lasts forever that we all want. Next month, they would have been married for 60 years, but that still wouldn’t have been enough,” Hime wrote.
Grandma and Grandpa met when they were in their 20s at a cycling club in England.
During those 60 years, that love grew stronger every day.
“Seeing how he loved her is such a great reminder to make good decisions. Pick someone who you know will still be your best friend in 60 years. Who will still hold your hand in the good times and, more importantly, in the bad times. Someone who isn’t embarrassed or shy about showing how much they love you. Who says proudly in a room full of people, “She’s the most beautiful thing and I love her so much.” That is love,” Hime wrote.