The Secret Code

"Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own."

Robert Heinlein

Years ago, all my mom’s relatives had gathered from far and wide for the memorial for her dear Uncle Drew. He was a physician in Los Angeles and always seemed to have a smile on his face and joy in his step. All the kids and the adults loved him.

I remember my dad and I were standing at the bottom of the staircase in Aunt Lucille and Uncle Drew’s beautiful home, talking to my mom’s cousin Keith.

Keith and his wife Jean had driven in from southern Utah to come to the funeral. Dad asked Keith when they were headed back, and Keith’s reply was simply, “She hasn’t said yet.”

My dad was amused by Keith’s answer, as was I, though being unmarried then, I didn’t fully appreciate its meaning.

Years later, while reading in bed, my wonderful wife Liz said aloud, “I’m kind of cold.”

I got up, turned the heat up a bit and got back in bed. It gradually occurred to me that Liz hadn’t asked me to do anything. And I realized that Keith’s reply to my dad those many years ago wasn’t that unusual after all.

-Hank

"The Secret Code" from The Saturday Morning Post at hankfrazee.com