The doctors quietly told us he probably had only a few months left.
I remember looking at the wedding invitations we had already mailed and thinking,
None of this matters anymore.
So we canceled everything.
No ballroom.
No flowers.
No first dance.
Instead, I asked a hospital chaplain to marry us in Ben’s room.
I wore my favorite blue jeans, a white shirt, and a cheap veil one of the nurses found at a party store during her lunch break.
Ben insisted on wearing the ridiculous black bow tie I had bought him for our original wedding.
It looked absurd with his hospital pajamas.
He said,
“A groom has standards.”
Everyone cried.
Even the nurses.
After the ceremony, Ben squeezed my hand and whispered,
“Best day of my life.”
I truly believed it was mine too.
Then one of the nurses caught me alone in the hallway.
She glanced toward Ben’s room to make sure he could not hear us.
