In June 1956, when Bob Harvey closed the car door for the girl Annette Adkins, he thought the distance between him and his lover was just a summer vacation. However, by the time he could kiss Annette again, 63 years had passed.
Being able to walk into the marriage hall with a high school lover in his old age is the greatest comfort in life for Bob, who is suffering from cancer, and the greatest gift in life for Annette, who is also 80 years old.
When Bob was a high school student, he met Annette, who had transferred from a school. Annette, from Pickeville, Kentucky, describes it in her own words: "My hometown is a rural town, we don't have football games here, we don't have a social life. ”
Perhaps because her birth is not so glamorous, Annette has a natural sense of inferiority in her bones, which can be said to be particularly evident in her interaction with Bob.
For Bob, he seems to be obsessed with Annette at first sight, and he takes the initiative to contact Annette's girlfriends in order to understand her situation, and then invites her to dance, hoping to enhance her feelings.
However, although Annette was also particularly fond of the tall boy in front of her, she declined her first invitation to dance. For the first time, her sense of inferiority was at work.
Annette recalled: "I couldn't dance, and I was afraid that my ugliness would upset Bob. So I took a humble guy and asked him to teach me to dance. You know, dancing with someone who isn't remarkable, no one is going to pay attention to you. But I confess that Bob had lived in my heart at that moment, and I was looking forward to him inviting me again, and I hoped that I would be able to seize this opportunity. ”
The way Annette danced with the other boys was imprinted in Bob's eyes, making him love the girl in front of him even more urgently.
Soon after, he did invite Annette to dance again.
This time, two people danced mesmerizingly on the dance floor, and two hearts waiting for each other collided at that moment. They fell in love, but they loved too hastily.
When Bob thought that Annette would discuss the future of the two of them with himself after returning from summer vacation, Annette accepted the arrangement from her aunt and uncle to go on a blind date with Mr. Callahan in the town. Yes, the inferiority complex in her bones had flared up again.
While Bob eagerly awaited the return of his lover, he waited for a sentence that made him feel particularly cold: "I'm sorry, I don't want to date you again!" Bob never understood why, but he felt that his education would not allow him to dwell on it.
Bob, 80, remembers that moment of determination vividly, recalling: "My heart was broken at that moment. But I had to respect and fulfill her thoughts, and I didn't say anything and quietly walked away. After that, my eyes would still be whirling around her, but the difference was that I was unrequited, and I had her, and only once. ”
Two years later, a girl named Diane Swift appeared in front of Bob, and they fell in love, but Bob's heart left Annette with an indelible place, like his wallet, which always had a picture of Annette hidden.
Bob and Diane married in 1959, and two years later, Annette married Callaghan. Since then, the two people have begun a life of not disturbing each other.
Bob became the father of a pair of children, and Annette gave birth to two boys and two girls.
Bob worked as a teacher at a school in Washington, D.C., for 23 years, and Annette became a nurse, working in several hospitals.
In 2015, Annette, who had been married for 54 years, lost her partner and Callahan died of vascular dementia. In 2017, Diane died of cancer.
If it weren't for the results of the 2018 physical examination, Bob's cancer, he might have hidden Annette in his memory forever, but when the end of life approached, he didn't want to have a huge regret in life.
So Bob searched the Internet for Annette's name and found that she had been widowed three years earlier. "At that moment I was afraid of dying, I was really afraid that she had remarried, and if that was the case, it meant I might not even have the last chance."
By finding the church where Annette's husband was buried, Bob learned Annette's address and phone number. He couldn't wait to talk to her, and he knew he had been waiting for more than 60 years. Bob mailed her a condolence card with not only his contact information, but also the words "Miss you" in particular.
On the other hand, Annette is also trying to find Bob, she inadvertently found the good memories of the past from the old photos, and Annette also hopes to renew the frontier with Bob, but unfortunately, she can't find Bob's information on Facebook.
On July 26, 2018, both important days for Bob and Annette, they were finally connected by phone.
Annette understood each other's thoughts, and she came up and expressed her thoughts: "Can you come to Ohio?" I've been looking for you! It was this affirmation that made 80-year-old Bob excited like a child. He was even nervous enough to ask his son what to do in the moment he met Annette. "ShouldN't I have given her a passionate kiss like I did in 1956?" My son laughed and said to me, go for it, Dad! ”
The distance between Bob and Annette's residence was distant, which forced Bob to drive 12 hours to get there. But the 80-year-old was extra energetic along the way, stopping only twice: once to refuel and once to buy her a bouquet of pink and white carnations. This was the flower they had loved the most, and it was also remembered in Bob's heart along with the thoughts.
Finally, after more than 60 years of waiting, Bob and Annette met again, and at that moment, Bob excitedly said, "I want to kiss you, whether you like it or not." He knew that the silver-haired old man in front of him was still the love of his heart. And this feeling is exactly what Annette experienced.
After a week of small gatherings, Bob had to go home because he was being treated for cancer, and while that took up most of the rest of his life, Bob struggled to squeeze out 10 days of time each month to spend with Annette.
Two months later, Bob proposed to Annette, who bought a 50s ring at their once favorite antique store. If he had been "brutal", perhaps the ring had been worn on Annette's hand half a century ago.
After 63 years of waiting for each other, Bob and Annette walked into the wedding hall where they were looking forward to a lifetime. Bob specifically instructed his grandchildren to bring CD players so he could dance with Annette again. To his heart, Annette told him, "My husband and I have never danced, and the last person to dance with me in this life is still you." ”
Although the two were already white-haired old men when they renewed the frontier, Bob and Annette were already very happy with this ending. They were unabashed about their previous marriages, and Bob's wedding tie featured a daisy motif, his late wife's favorite flower.
Now, Bob is working on selling his Virginia home, and in order to move to Annette's side completely, he confesses: "We don't have so much time to delay any longer, and the rest of the day, we just want to bask in a strong love for each other." 」 ”
The love story between the two people not only touched the friends around them, but also infected the media, and even attracted the arrival of the film screenwriter. No one can say for sure, one day in the future, the big screen will play a beautiful love story between them.
The marriage of 63 years late may be particularly regrettable, but the beauty of finally being together has made their lives regret-free.