"After 21 years of marriage, my wife came up to me and told me that she had something important that she wanted to tell me.
She wanted me to go out with another woman. She wanted me to take this other woman out to the movies and a dinner. She said, "I love you, but I know that this other woman also loves you a lot and I want her to spend some time with you."
This other woman is my mother. She has been living by herself for the last 19 years since my dad passed away. And because of my work and my three kids I only manage to visit her occasionally.
So that very evening I did what my wife asked me to. I invited my mom to a movie and dinner.
"What happened?" my mom asked me. "Are you sure that everything is okay?"
"I thought it would be a great idea if we spent some time together." I responded. "Just you and me."
My mom took a deep breath, I could hear it from across the telephone, then she finally said, "I would really like that."
So come Friday evening, after work, I was waiting for her. I was a little nervous because it had been a while ... She had her hair tied around in a neat bun and was wearing the same outfit that she wore for her last marriage anniversary. She was smiling radiantly and I could see that the years had a left a mark on her gentle face.
"I told my friends that I am going out with son tonite and they were very impressed," she told me in the car. "I told them I would meet them another evening!"
So we went to a nice restaurant, not very fancy, but something cozy and intimate. My mom took my arm as if she were the First Lady. We sat down and I read the menu to her because her eyesight is quite weak now. When I finished reading the menu I looked and saw her gazing at me intensely with a nostalgic feeling in her eyes.
"When you were a child, I used to read the menu to you," she said, "Well it's time for you to rest and let me do the reading for you," I said.
We had dinner and we had an amazing conversation. We had so many things to share about our lives, the past, and the present. We kept talking for hours and forgot all about the movie. Finally, it was time to part ways and with a heavy heart I said goodbye to my mom. We promised each other that we would go out again and my mom insisted that she would invite me the next time.
Back home, my wife wanted to know how the evening went. "It was more beautiful than I ever imagined," I said.
My mom and I didn't get around to that promised evening. A few days after the dinner we found out that my mom had developed a heart condition and her health deteriorated rapidly.
A few months later, I went back to that restaurant where I last had dinner with my mom. A letter from my mom awaited me there. It read: "I paid for a dinner in advance - for you and your wife. I wasn't sure if we would ever have the chance to spend another evening together. But you can't imagine how happy you made me that evening. I love you, my son."
It was that day that I understood the true meaning of "I love you", and the importance of spending time with one's family and loved ones. There is nothing else more important than love."
Share this touching story with all your friends and remind yourself and others to treat our moms to something special before its too late!