After spending nearly every minute

After spending nearly every waking minute with Angel for eight straight days, I knew that I had to tell her just one thing. So late at night, just before she fell asleep, I whispered it in her ear.

She smiled – the kind of smile that makes me smile back –and she said, ‘When I’m seventy-five and I think about my life and what it was like to be young, I hope that I can remember this very moment.’

A few seconds later she closed her eyes and fell asleep. The room was peaceful – almost silent.

All I could hear was the soft purr of her breathing. I stayed awake thinking about the time we’d spent together and all the choices in our lives that made this moment possible.

And at some point, I realised that it didn’t matter what we’d done or where we’d gone. Nor did the future hold any significance.

All that mattered was the serenity of the moment. Just being with her and breathing with her.