By John Wayne Schlatter

Having a goal based on love is the greatest life insurance in the world. If you had asked my dad why he got up in the morning, you would have found his answer disarmingly simple: "To make my wife happy." Mom and Dad met when they were nine. Every day before school, they met on a park bench with their homework. Mom corrected Dad's English and he did the same with her math. Upon graduation, their teachers said that the two of them were the best "student" in the school. Note the singular! They took their time building their relationship, even though Dad always knew she was the girl for him. Their first kiss occurred when they were 17, and their romance continued to grow into their 80s. Just how much power their relationship created was brought to light in 1964. The doctor told Dad he had cancer and estimated that he had six months to one year left at the most. "Sorry to disagree with you, Doc," my father said. "But I'll tell you how long I have. One day longer than my wife. I love her too much to leave the planet without her." And so it was, to the amazement of everyone who didn't really know this love-matched pair, that Mom passed away at the age of 85 and Dad followed one year later when he was 86. Near the end, he told my brothers and me that those 17 years were the best six months he ever spent. To the wonderful doctors and nurses at the Department of Veterans' Affairs Medical Center at Long Beach, he was a walking miracle. They kept a loving watch on him and just couldn't understand how a body so riddled with cancer could continue to function so well. My dad's explanation was simple. He informed them that he had been a medic in World War I and saw amputated arms and legs, and he had noticed that none of them could think. So he decided he would tell his body how to behave. Once, as he stood up and it was evident he felt a stabbing pain, he looked down at his chest and shouted, "Shut up! We're having a party here." Two days before he left us he said, "Boys, I'll be with your mother very soon and someday, some place we'll all be together again. But take your time about joining us; your mother and I have a lot of catching up to do." It is said that love is stronger than prison walls. Dad proved it was a heck of a lot stronger than tiny cancer cells. Bob, George and I are still here, armed with Dad's final gift.

A goal, a love and a dream give you total control over your body and your life.

A wedding is a civil or religious ceremony at which the beginning of a marriage is celebrated.
In most societies, a number of wedding traditions or customs have emerged around the wedding ceremony, many of which have lost their original symbolic meaning in the modern world. Other wedding traditions are relatively recent. Some elements of the Western wedding ceremony symbolize the bride's departure from her father's control and entry into a new family with her husband. In modern Western weddings, this symbolism is largely vestigial, since husband and wife are of equal power and status. Recently in some cultures, same-sex weddings have begun to be celebrated.
The Western custom of the bride wearing a white wedding dress came to symbolize purity in the Victorian era (despite popular misconception and the hackneyed jokes of situation comedies the white dress did not actually indicate virginity, which was symbolized by a face veil). Within the "white wedding" tradition, a white dress and veil would not have been considered appropriate in the second or third wedding of a widow or divorcee. The specific conventions of Western weddings largely from a Protestant and Catholic viewpoint, are discussed at "White wedding."
Weddings in modern China combine both traditional elements and elements influenced by the West. The actual civil ceremony consists of registering the marriage with the local registrar and is brief and done without much ceremony. The wedding reception, however, is elaborate and complex, and the one prominent element of modern Chinese weddings is the Chinese wedding album.

Preparing for the photographs, at a wedding in Thornbury Castle, England
A wedding is often followed or accompanied by a wedding reception, at which an elaborate wedding cake is served. Western traditions include toasting the bride and groom, the newlyweds having the first dance, and cutting the cake. The bride throws her bouquet to the assembled group of all unmarried women in attendance, and the woman who catches it is supposedly going to be the next to wed. A fairly recent egalitarian equivalent has the groom throwing the bride's garter to the assembled unmarried men; the man who catches it is supposedly the next to wed.

TRUE LOVE It was a busy morning, approximately 8:30 am, when an elderly gentleman in his 80's, arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He stated that he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00am. I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound. On exam it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, and got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound. While taking care of his wound, we began to engage in conversation. I asked him if he had a doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I then inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while, and that she was a victim of Alzheimer's Disease. As we talked, and I finished dressing his wound, I asked if she would be worried if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now. I was surprised, and asked him. "And you still go every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?" He smiled as he patted my hand and said. "She doesn't know me, but I still know who she is." I had to hold back tears as he left. I had goose bumps on my arm, and thought, "That is the kind of love I want in my life." True love is neither physical, nor romantic. True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be. Oh, by the way, peace is seeing a sunset and knowing who to thank. "The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything that comes along their way." Hope you’ll share this w/ everyone in your list.. Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, but FAITH looks up.

March 1, 2005

The couple already decided to spend their lives together from the first 2 months of being officially together. Rain asked her if she wants to spend her life with him. And Kaye had been feeling also the same way for him. And both of them were inseperable and been there for each other.It was a tiring night for both of them because it's also the day they got back from Puerto Galera and they have to go to work that night. It happend when Kaye's in the boardroom with her officemates having their meeting. --nearly prepraring for their break.

Then,12 midnight,(already March 1, 2005) Rain knock and hand her a paperbag. Kaye is wondering what's the occasion? He just said nothing. And when Kaye opened the paperbag... it's a stufftoy w/ a card. She was overwhelmed of the stufftoy.. but Rain is so serious that he insisted to read the card on that very moment. Of course, Kaye have to read the card in front of her officemates...Then suddenly, Rain ask her if she's already done reading the card... Kaye just say "YES" even if she's not done reading it.

But of course, Kaye already had a hinch that it is the day she'd been waiting for. Then Rain just put that "little box" in front of her and Kaye just cried and cried! Most of her officemates were crying & shouting that even Kaye's manager ran to the boardroom and wants to figure out what's happening. But seeing Rain handed the ring trying to fit in to Kaye's ring finger....He's speechless! Speechless it seems to Kaye, because she didn't even say a single word going out of the boardroom!