Stories That Bring Us Together

Story 1

The Uber ride was quiet at first, the kind of silence that carries weight. Lori sat in the back seat, hands folded tightly in her lap, staring out the window as the hospital drew closer with every mile.

She told the driver she was on her way to surgery. Her husband was gone now, and her daughter—grown, busy, doing her best—couldn’t take time off work to be there. So Lori was going alone.

Her voice wavered as she spoke. The doctor had warned her she might not be able to go home afterward. She might be admitted. Or worse. She confessed, almost in a whisper, that she didn’t know if she would make it through the surgery at all.

The car slowed as they reached the hospital entrance. Lori paused, her hand hovering over the door handle. Then she turned to the driver and asked if he would give her a hug before she went inside.

He stepped out of the car and wrapped his arms around her. For a moment, she wasn’t just a patient. She wasn’t just an elderly woman facing fear alone. She was a human being, being held—seen, comforted, and cared for.

Then she let go, thanked him, and walked toward the doors.

Sometimes, in the rush of everyday life, we forget how powerful a small act of kindness can be. But to someone standing on the edge of uncertainty, it can mean everything.

Story 2

Ross and Miriam have been married for more than fifty years. A lifetime of shared mornings, inside jokes, and hands held through both joy and hardship. But now, despite all those years together, they live apart.

Ross resides in an assisted living facility, his legs no longer strong enough to carry him without a walker. Miriam lives nearby in a nursing home, moved there after a stroke took away the use of her hands. Their bodies have betrayed them in different ways, but their love has not.

Every day, when mealtime approaches, Ross carefully makes his way into an Uber. The walk is slow, deliberate. Each step takes effort. But he never misses a visit. He arrives at the nursing home, sits beside Miriam, and gently feeds her—bite by bite, just as she once cared for him in a hundred unseen ways.

They don’t need many words. Sometimes she meets his eyes. Sometimes she smiles. In those quiet moments, the years fall away, and they are simply husband and wife again.

It is sad that life has separated them into different rooms, different buildings, different limitations. But love, it seems, still finds a way. Every day Ross shows up, proving that marriage does not end when things become difficult—it deepens.

Because even when they cannot live together, Ross refuses to let Miriam eat alone.  Love keeps them together.