I'll tell you the truth—even with my wife staring down at me in bed—marriage ain't easy. Nope. But now I knew, as she grasped my hand and I remembered my vows.

"I take thee to be my wife, to have and to hold..."

Sure, there's the sex! Whoa boy! But I had my share of temptation. Once, a woman in the market rubbed her thigh against mine while the wife was away picking fruit. I actually got her telephone number!

"In sickness and health..."

But I never called. Nope. Funny, if that was when the wife had been depressed about her Momma dying, and giving us all that grief. Damn! I would've called. She was so far gone, not even our kids could get her moving.

"For richer, for poorer..."

Guess the Lord works in mysterious ways. She got over it right about the time I lost my job. Almost as though the hardship snapped her right back. Like she suddenly knew her family needed her—like I needed her.

"To love and to cherish from this day forward..."

Kissing her again, out to find another job, it was like she breathed life into me. And it wasn't too long—least it didn't seem so. She kept on kissing me too, ever since then. Even now she bent toward me.

"And I promise to be faithful until death do us part."

I smiled back, for now I knew—finally I knew—that I had kept my promises. And with her kiss, I breathed my last.