Romance--Epilogue

Epilogue.
It was my parents 40th wedding anniversary party. They had moved to Salt Lake just a month or so before. In fact, shortly after we moved into our house, Dad had parked his motor home in our driveway and lived there until Mom could sell their house in California.
I remember the party so vividly because it was the first one I had really enjoyed in years. Always before, I had felt like ‘odd man out" as I would look at my siblings with their spouses and children, but now I had my own wife--the most beautiful of the lot and I felt a feeling of sweet contentment.
Many years later, I was working for a fellow with a wonderful collection of Mormon books. Among them I found a history of the Ensign Stake. I looked through it and there I was shocked to see the name of the current (at the time of publication of the history) of the 5th ward, Carl Okleberry, with a picture of his family. I began to weep silently as I gazed at the picture--a handsome young man with a beautiful wife and 5 angelic looking boys. I felt almost as if his loss of life had given me the courage to get my own. As a I looked at the picture and remembered how much of a push it had been for me to ask Shauna to marry me, I muttered silently, "Thank you, Carl Okleberry."