Elderly Man Sits on the Beach Hugging a Framed Photo and Cries — Stranger Approaches to Hear His Story

You never know what tales lurk behind the eyes of strangers. A pizzeria owner discovered this when he noticed a man crying while sitting on a beach. He approached the stranger, only to be told a story that completely blew his mind.

Many of us want that "let's grow old together" type of love. To find someone who will love us in our prime and until our hair goes white and our skin starts to sag.

These sorts of relationships are possible. But, we must prepare ourselves because spending a lifetime with another means one of the two, in all likelihood, will pass away before the other. Are we able to handle this pain?

TRUE LOVE

Giuseppe Giordano from Italy and his wife, Ida, met when they were both teenagers in 1969. To both of their parent's disappointment, Ida fell pregnant with her young lover's baby before marriage.

This...was a mystery that the then-54-year-old local pizzeria owner, Giorgio Moffa, was determined to solve.

The two soulmates eventually did walk down the aisle in 1969 and had two more children. Giuseppe's love for her was and continued to be undying.

A CURIOUS RITUAL

The ocean also looked as if it were one of Giuseppe's true loves when in 2018, he was spending a questionable amount of time at the seaside.

A few years earlier, Giuseppe began visiting this seaside at the beach in Gaeta every day at sunset with a photo frame in his hand. The then-70-year-old had started carrying this frame wherever he went.

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AN UNSOLVED CASE

This daily habit of Giuseppe's was a mystery that the then-54-year-old local pizzeria owner, Giorgio Moffa, was determined to solve. His curiosity peaked when he saw Giuseppe sitting in the same spot every day.

One day he spotted Giuseppe sitting in his usual spot, and he chose to approach him. Heartbreakingly, this stranger was sobbing.

But, when he found out more about Giuseppe's reasons for being there, he was so touched that he had to share it with the world.

THE ANSWER UNFOLDS!

Taking to Facebook, Moffa shared pictures he took of Giuseppe. He let his friends in on the beautiful story of this man's daily ritual.

Moffa explained that it all had to do with the death of Giuseppe's wife, who he lost many years ago. The picture, he said, is of Ida herself, who he, in a sense, spends time with every day by the seaside.

He expressed that men like Giuseppe are rare in today's day and age and that he felt heartsore for the ever-grieving widower.

Moffa opened up about his own tragic story, sharing that he lost his two younger brothers. He said that everyone had experienced grief, but Giuseppe is one of the few who is brave enough to let it show.

Of course, Giuseppe didn't choose this particular spot for no reason. Instead, before his wife died of cancer, and during the early days of their relationship, they would spend a lot of time there.

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A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD

Giuseppe and his late wife have a love for the ages. But, as Moffa implied, there needs to be a certain level of courage if we want to find and keep this kind of relationship.

Giuseppe was unafraid of his emotions, bold enough to grieve and cry with abandon. This ability to open up his heart to pain is likely why he was able to let the beautiful love he had for Ida in.

Cliche and yet true, our ability to fully accept the darkness in life reflects our ability to fully embrace the light -- a frustrating and yet strangely alluring paradox.

A GIFT FOR THE GRIEVING

British war veteran Ken Bembow had to face the darkness himself when the light of his life, Aida, also passed away. Like Giuseppe, the 94-year-old used a picture of her as comfort, sleeping with a framed photo of her every night.

The problem was that this particular frame was glass -- something that one of the caretakers, Mariah Tobin, was concerned about at the Thistleton Lodge where he stayed. So, she made a plan and bought him a pillow with his wife's face on it.

The older man said he burst into tears as soon as she gifted it to him. The World War Two veteran claimed it was the most beautiful gift he could have wished for.

Bembow and his wife were married for just over seven decades, making it easy to understand why he would want her next to him every night.

Speaking about his late wife, he referred to her as gorgeous, caring, and loving, claiming that she never did anything wrong in her entire life.

Grief is a form of suffering that many of us do our best to avoid. But, at the same time, it proves that we truly loved and connected -- perhaps one of the most important experiences we can have in our lifetime.