The waitress noticed how the shell had made his eyes look glassy, so she asked him if there was anything she could do. The man said, “Well, if you would not mind taking a break, will you stay and talk with me? I just need to someone to talk to right now.” “No problem,” she answered, and sat down across from the man. The two began to talk.
“What was your wife’s name,” the waitress asked. “Heidi. Her name was Heidi,” he answered. “She was the most gorgeous woman in the world. Her smile was so luminous; it would light up any room. And those eyes! You could get lost in her eyes. By looking into them, you would forget all your cares and worries. Oh how I long to see them once more.” “Wow, sir, you really loved her,” the waitress said while in awe of the man’s adoration for his late wife. “Yes, I suppose I did.”
“How did you propose to your wife? You seem to be the hopeless romantic type.” “Well,” the man said with a sly smile beginning to form upon his face. “I proposed to her on a beach. It was the beach where we met during the summer of ’42. I had just recently been laid off from my job when I was about to buy an engagement ring for her. I had no money for a ring. I desperately wanted to marry her. Heidi changed me from the moment I met her. I became a better man because of her. I had to come up with an idea.”
“The idea I had was I would go back to the beach where we had met and I would collect seashells. With the shells, I would make a necklace and give it to her as a representation of my promise to marry her. While I was looking, one shell stood out. It was ornate in shape and design. When you hold it up to your ear, you can hear the ocean. The sound of the ocean reminded me of my flowing love for Heidi.”
“Finally the day I would ask her to marry me arrived. I planned for us to have a seaside picnic and we would take a long, romantic stroll along the beach. After taking our stroll, I would get down on one knee and ask her to marry me. It was perfect! Once I had gotten down on one knee, Heidi began to cry tears of joy. The necklace overwhelmed her. She said she yes, immediately. By holding the shell to her ear, she said she would know if I stopped loving her.”
“Upon hearing this, I was in a state of shock. How would she know? The shell does not talk, or does it? It finally hit me. She would know because of the sound of the rushing ocean from the shell. It was the flow of my love for her.”
“Aw, that is so romantic! “Did the sound of the ocean ever stop,” the waitress asked. “No, it was constant for fifty years,” the man answered. “Never for one moment in my life did I ever doubt that I loved my wife, but now…”
“Sir, you will always love your wife, even if the sound of the ocean stops sounding from the shell. She will live in your heart forever and no one will ever replace her.” “But I am still afraid that I will forget my love for her as time passes by,” said the man. “You will not. The love the two of you have will be stronger than ever. Remember, distance makes the heart grow fonder.”
