My grandpa brought my grandma flowers every Saturday for 57 years. A week after he died, a stranger delivered a bouquet and a letter. “There’s something I hid from you. Go to this address,” Grandpa had written. My grandma was terrified the whole drive, and what we found left us both in tears.
I never thought I’d get to witness a love story as steady and beautiful as the one my grandma lived. Not the flashy kind you see in movies—no grand speeches, no dramatic gestures meant for an audience. Just a quiet kind of devotion that showed up, week after week, until it became part of the air in the house.
My grandparents were married for 57 years. Grandpa Thomas and Grandma Mollie.
And every Saturday morning—every single one—Grandpa would wake up early, slip out of bed while Grandma was still asleep, and come home with flowers.
Sometimes it was a bundle of wildflowers he’d picked from the roadside, the kind you’d miss if you drove too fast. Sometimes it was tulips from the farmer’s market. Sometimes roses from the florist in town. It didn’t matter what they were. What mattered was the ritual.
When Grandma came into the kitchen, there they’d be, sitting in a vase on the table like a soft little announcement: I’m still choosing you.
I remember asking him once when I was little, the way kids ask questions like they’ve just discovered a secret.
“Grandpa, why do you bring Grandma flowers every single week?”
He smiled at me—gentle, patient—those corners of his eyes folding like paper.