They still hold hands.

I wish that I would have gotten a picture of this.

For all the "he makes me the bad guy" or "nothing makes her happy" kind of embellishments that I hear my parents say, there is nothing sweeter than what I witnessed between them a few weeks ago.

My parents were visiting because I was hosting a baby shower for a friend, and towards the end of the afternoon they disappeared.  The rest of us went on with cleaning up, making evening plans and chatting about how perfectly well the day had gone. When I realized that my parents hadn't been around for awhile, I went searching.

And there they were -- sitting on the couch in the den, side-by-side, holding hands in the dark and watching Message in a Bottle or Tin Cup (or something like that).

The sense of serenity almost brought me to tears as it settled over the room. I will never forget their image that day, nor what it's brought me since.