forever love

This afternoon I attended my first wedding since my wife died. I had no 'plus one', just me and my friends. I was the guy on his own, which I had no problem with because, although I couldn't attend as part of a couple, I'm never alone when I'm with the people I love.Being in church got me thinking about my vows though. It made me think, positively, how much I meant them and, perhaps more sceptically, how much the traditional pledges leave little way for loss.To have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, 'til death us do part.She may no longer be here to have or hold; wealth and poverty have both lost their meaning to me; there was no sickness to work through and I have my health; but why should being parted by death stop love?Looking back it seems absurd that I only promised to love and cherish my wife until death. I'll love and cherish her forever.