Holding Hands Across the Sea~~~

A recent news story caught my attention and captured my heart. It was about a love/friendship that has lasted 70+ years.
 
It all began in 1939. Pauline was an American teenager living in Czechoslovakia – the homeland of her father who moved his family there from New York when Pauline was 8 years old. Like many young girls of her age, at nineteen, Pauline was experiencing the first blush of romance. She and her boyfriend, Fritz, met every Sunday at a nearby ice cream parlor until he had to leave for college. Just before leaving, Fritz asked his best friend, Ferry, to keep an eye on Pauline.
 
“He kept an eye on me all right,” Pauline vividly recalls 70 years later, adding that Ferry began to flirt with her almost immediately. Soon they were inseparable, spending time together taking horse and buggy rides, sunbathing and going to the movies. They always held hands whenever they were together. “That’s all that you did in those days,” explained Pauline. “But it was the real thing.”
 
Then came World War II. Pauline begged her family to allow her to stay in Czechoslovakia so she could remain near Ferry. However, her father adamantly refused to let her stay and hastened to move his Jewish family back to New York. Ferry fought in the war with the Czechs. Years later, each married and embarked on their separate journeys. All that remained of the couple were their memories. Except… during Christmas when Pauline would receive a Christmas card from Ferry in which he would write a short note.
 
“I will always be tied to you.”
 
There were no phone calls or lengthy letters exchanged between the two over the years. “We were married. We had to behave properly,” said Pauline. But each year the much anticipated Christmas card arrived faithfully in Pauline’s mailbox.
 
The two are still living today. Both are 95 years old. Pauline is a widow without any children. Ferry is still married and has two children. In 2008, Ferry wrote, “In my mind, I always went back to when we were young.” Pauline says that she would be devastated if the cards stopped coming. She has left instructions in her will to notify Ferry in the event of her death. She hopes that he has left the same instructions with members of his family.
 
“What might have been…” Pauline sighs. “But there was the war. Our friendship/love is revived once a year by way of a Christmas card. We’ve been holding hands across the sea for close to 70 years.”
 
I will always be tied to you love always~