[00:03.38]In family life, love is the oil that eases friction,
[00:08.29]the cement that binds closer together,
[00:11.47]and the music that brings harmony.
[00:14.65]Words From The Heart 心灵之声
[00:21.21]Most people need to hear those three little words“I love you”.
[00:26.46]Once in a while, they hear them just in time.
[00:30.40]I met Connie the day she was admitted to the hospice room,
[00:35.15]where I worked as a volunteer.
[00:37.29]Her husband, Bill, stood nervously nearby
[00:41.50]as she was transferred to the hospital bed.
[00:44.18]Although Connie was in the final stages of her fight against cancer,
[00:49.48]she was alert and cheerful.
[00:51.51]Connie was a romantic. She loved soap operas,
[00:55.71]romance novels and movies with a good love story.
[00:59.39]As we became acquainted, she confided how frustrating it was
[01:04.20]to be married 32 years to a man who often called her “a silly woman”.
[01:09.89]“Oh, I know Bill loves me,”she said,
[01:13.92]“but he has never been one to say he loves me, or send cards to me.”
[01:19.30]She sighed and looked out the window at the trees in the courtyard.
[01:23.90]“I’d give anything if he’d say‘I love you’,
[01:28.05]but it’s just not in his nature.”
[01:30.79]Bill visited Connie every day.
[01:33.63]One day, I remembered it was February 12, over coffee in the cafeteria,
[01:40.20]I got him on the subject of women and how we need romance in our lives;
[01:45.34]how we love to get sentimental cards and love letters.
[01:49.06]“Do you tell Connie you love her?”I asked (knowing his answer),
[01:54.42]and he looked at me as if I was crazy.
[01:57.05]“I don’t have to,”he said.“She knows I do!”
[02:02.30]“I’m sure she knows,”I said “but she needs to hear it, Bill.
[02:07.66]She needs to hear what she has meant to you all these years.
[02:11.93]Please think about it.”
[02:13.57]Two days later I walked down the hospice ward at noon.
[02:17.95]There stood Bill, leaning up against the wall in the hallway, staring at the floor.
[02:23.63]I already knew from the head nurse that Connie had died at 11 a.m.
[02:29.11]When Bill saw me, he said，“I thought a lot about what you said,
[02:33.92]and this morning I told her how much I loved her... and loved being married to her.
[02:39.72]You should have seen her smile!”
[02:42.12]I went into the room to say my own goodbye to Connie.
[02:45.95]There, on the bedside table, was a large Valentine card from Bill.
[02:51.65]You know, the sentimental kind that says,“To my wonderful wife... I love you.”
[02:57.11]Don’t be closefisted in expressing your affection to your beloved lover,
[03:02.47]to your parents and to your friends who are waiting for it.
