Our promises are our vows

They walked around opposite corners one day and bumped into each other. She looked up at him, he looked down at her and their lips met. Their fates were sealed forevermore with that kiss; at least his was.

That kiss started an almost four-year long relationship that promised to end in marriage one day because these two people were soulmates in every sense of the word.

But the longer it went on, the more doubts his friends had about it. After all, they said, if she wanted to be with him, why wasn't she?

And he countered that no one knew what was in their hearts except the two of them and when the time was right, they would be together.

Perhaps he was the fool. Maybe he should have listened to his friends. But he never had and he wasn't going to start now, because he knew his love for her was pure and he thought the same of her love for him.

He's never been one to be swayed by the sentiments of others when he knows his own heart. He knew this love was true and he was willing to stake his life on it.

They shared so many things with each other; hopes and dreams and visions of their future together. She told him she had had dreamt about him many years before she ever met him and when she finally did, she knew he was the one for her.

She promised to go to her grave loving him and he believed her because in moments that are far too rare, you know that things are exactly as they're supposed to be and he felt this way about their love for each other. He didn't need anyone's counsel; he didn't need to ask for advice; he didn't need to know what anyone else thought because he knew that out of all the people in the world, this was the person he was destined to be with.

And he thought this every single day, every single minute, for almost four years until she told him she didn't love him anymore and then, as quickly as it started, it was over, at least for her.

But it would never be over for him. Regardless of who she was, what she did, what she said or what she thought, he knew she was the love of his life.

His ex-wife cajoles him, telling him he's pined for this woman much longer than he pined for his wife when they divorced after being married for many years and he knows it's true.

He knows it's true because true love never dies. He promised her when they were together that there would never be anyone in his life ever again except for her.

And regardless of what she has said and done since their breakup, he has remained true to that vow.

He loved her then, he loves her now and he will love her forever because he doesn't make promises he can't keep.

And so he waits.

I would like to ask all of you to keep Lee Petsch in your thoughts and prayers. Lee has been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, a debilitating and fatal disease. He and his devoted and faithful wife, Billie, are fighting this against all odds but the prognosis is not good. Lee is a lifetime member of the Eagles Club and the Elks Club and is one of the few persons I've ever known in my life that no one has a disparaging word to say about. He is my friend and I would ask you to lift him up. So many of us love you, Lee.