After 56 Years of Marriage, Old Woman Finds a Farewell Letter from Her Husband – Story of the Day

Charlie and I had what everyone considered the perfect relationship for almost our entire lives. One day, as I was rummaging through our closet, I stumbled upon an old letter dated over 40 years earlier. I couldn't believe what my husband had written.

A few days before Valentine's Day, I found myself digging through my closet, searching for some of my old things. I was almost done with Charlie's present, but I hoped to find something else cute in my boxes and drawers of memories to add to his gift.

Making presents for my husband was never difficult. We had known each other since we were children and got married right out of high school. Now, 56 years later, we had five kids and our eleventh grandkid had just been born.

We were seen as the ideal American couple living in Ohio, and I could hardly believe I had met the love of my life so young. That meant we had a ton of memories together. I still kept the letters I wrote to him as a child and teen, most of our movie tickets, and even more memorabilia.

This year, I decided to make Charlie a flipbook containing all kinds of these things for Valentine's Day. While looking around, I opened one of Charlie's drawers and stumbled upon something unexpected. Charlie's mementos. He also kept pictures, letters, gifts, and even the books we read together during our courtship.

"I can’t believe he kept his mementos here. How exciting!" I told myself as I rummaged. Maybe I could add some of his things too. But then, something caught my eye. It was a letter, yellowed with age, sitting at the bottom of the drawer. I had never seen it before, and curiosity got the best of me, so I opened it. I wish I hadn’t.

The letter read:

Dear Marlene,

I can’t do this anymore. I didn’t realize this was what married life would be like. I want more. Goodbye.

Sincerely, Charlie.

February 10, 1975

I froze after reading those short words. There I was, sitting almost inside our closet with boxes all around me, and suddenly, I couldn’t move. The date on the letter was seared into my memory. That was the night I told Charlie I was pregnant with our first child.

After nine years of trying, when we finally got pregnant, it felt like a miracle. But discovering that letter tainted all our memories. He had been so decided to leave that he had written this letter.

As I was lost in these thoughts, Charlie's voice broke through the silence, announcing his return from bowling with his friends. Hurriedly, I stashed everything away, slipping the letter into my pocket, and went to greet him. My enthusiasm for Valentine's Day had vanished, and I prayed he wouldn't notice my distress.

But Charlie knew me too well. By the evening, as we sat watching television, my distraction was too evident for him to ignore. He muted the TV and pressed me, "That's it, Marlene! You're clearly preoccupied. What's going on? Is it something with the kids? The grandkids?"

Forcing a sad smile, I pulled the letter from my pocket and handed it to him. His expression changed to one of concern as he read it, sighing deeply, "Oh no. I had hoped you'd never have to see this."

"Your plan to leave... Did you even remember what day that was?" The words spilled out, tinged with hurt.

"I never truly wanted to leave, Marlene. It was a difficult time for me. My parents were pressuring me for grandchildren, going so far as to introduce me to other women. It was unbearable," Charlie confessed.

"The pressure for grandkids led them to introduce you to other women? I can't believe it," I gasped, shocked by the revelation.

"Yes, and I couldn't bear the thought of you finding out. I feared their interference might hurt you, so I thought leaving was the only way to protect you from their foolishness," he explained. "But I'm so thankful I stayed. Leaving would have been the gravest mistake of my life. The date on that letter? It's there to remind me of the day I nearly lost everything important," he said, looking at me with eyes full of emotion.

"Really?" I found myself crying, leaning into Charlie for comfort. "You were never unhappy with us?"

"Unhappy? No, I was overjoyed. I met the love of my life when I was just five, and I've never had a second thought. I remember every moment vividly – the day we started dating, the moment I proposed, our wedding, our honeymoon... it all feels like it just happened. I've been blissfully happy for over 56 years, and I plan to love you until my last breath," Charlie declared with such passion, holding me close on our well-worn couch.

That conversation changed everything. I returned the letter to its place in the drawer, but it wasn't a source of pain anymore. Instead, it served as a reminder of a crossroads in our past, a path we never took, and for that, I was grateful.

Come Valentine's Day, Charlie and I celebrated with a renewed sense of love and appreciation for each other, more secure than ever in the knowledge that there was nothing more important in this world than our love for each other.

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If you enjoyed this story, here's another one: I became a single mom in college. Every man I dated since then disappeared when they discovered I had a son. But then, I met Glenn and decided to keep my child a secret until my child showed up at our wedding and taught me a lesson.

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