HAROLYN AND ME  

                                                       OUR LOVE STORY

                                                                     By

                                                           Melvyn Douglas

 At the age of 85 years I still ask myself that after practicing law for 59 years and writing thousands of legal briefs presented to the courts, how did it come to pass that I was able to write and publish a book about Harolyn And Me Our Love Story?  It is because of a life altering event; the loss of my beloved wife Harolyn Ann who was my sweetheart for the 62 ½ wonderful years that we shared in this lifetime.

When I found Harolyn Ann lying still in her hospital bed on May 2, 2020, I was hit with an avalanche of shock, pain and agony that was unbearable.  After she passed the  vacuum that her loss created was so vast and such a deep abyss that I had to find a way to fill this void in order to prevent being propelled into this chasm for the rest of my days by this loss of my sweetheart.  Facing such a fate I relied on my love for Harolyn and the instincts that I learned from her to put me  on a path to  avoid such a disastrous outcome. The course I chose was to keep Harolyn’s memory alive along with our memories of a lifetime together and to find a means to build a tribute to her life.  This became my ultimate salvation from the grief, depression and loneliness that had engulfed me after my loss of her.  One of the hardest lessons of life is to realize that when it ends is that love and loss are both sides of the same coin as are life and death, and this brings an unwelcome and unfamiliar guest into our lives, which we call grief.

                                                      MY POETRY

In the days, weeks, months and three years that followed Harolyn’s passing from this life l became involved with writing love poems to her that reflected my current life without her and the deep loss that I was feeling because of my deep love for her over so many years, as well as the mutual love that we were blessed to share with each other in our time together.  My poetry focused on our love, our happiness, my loss and our faith which are themes that run throughout my writings to her.  As I wrote each of my poems of praise to Harolyn I poured my heart and soul into what I was putting to paper which included the emotions that I was feeling at time of each writing.  Thus, the reader may find joy or sadness; happiness or depression; love and beauty; with the hope and faith in our hearts for us to meet and touch once more on some fine day when my life is done and over with at God’s will.  Therefore, the readers will find the bittersweetness that is contained in my writing but they will also experience  the overwhelming happiness that is found in our photographs accompanying  each poem.  Between both of these art forms I was able to keep Harolyn’s memory alive while paying tribute to her life.

                                                  OUR PHOTOGRAPHS

These photographs were placed in the book where they fit the theme of the poem and they present the full sweetness that the reader will find in  Our Love Story, as they bring an exciting balance to the bitter and the sweet found in my writing.  Harolyn in her own right was a very talented photographer who used her own Nikon camera over many years and could also develop her own prints.  However, when we first met the photographs taken of us early on were mostly in photo booths until we could afford our own camera.  Over our lifetime we took photos of each other, selfies or had photos taken of the two of us with the assistance of others.  We also took photos of family and friends; all of our milestone celebrations; attendance at public functions and sporting contests; and anytime that we traveled whether far and wide or in our own neck of the woods.

Harolyn organized and placed these photographs in the sequence in which they were taken into photo albums.  It ended up that we had accumulated forty-one  photograph albums holding thousands of photographs.  While reviewing the photo albums after her passing I was able to enhance my memories of our life together and what helped in that regard were the notations that Harolyn placed on many of the margins or back sides of the photographs.  

After reviewing the photo albums I found myself reproducing 8 ½ x 11 copies of my favorite photographs in our collection that I framed in acrylic box frames.  Then I converted the upstairs office in our home to what is now called Harolyn’s Photo Gallery which has grown to number over 400 framed photos.  What I found when I was reprinting the larger copies was that each time I printed a photo it was as if Harolyn came to life again for the moment in time that was reflected in the photo.  Upon my final review of these photos my conclusion is that they showed what a natural beauty Harolyn was in this life and how many different looks she would personify over the years with grace and joy.

                                                           MY BOOK

This book is my tribute to Harolyn.  After working on my poetry and developing Harolyn’s Photo Gallery I decided to combine both of these projects into a book that would honor her memory and tell Our Love Story which came to fruition three years after her passing.  These three creative projects culminated in the writing and completion of Harolyn and Me Our Love Story which gave me a purpose to live.  This purpose for me has been to honor Harolyn and keep her memory alive. The way I have kept her memory alive is by sharing her with others through the words that I speak, the poetry that I write, and the images that I present in our photographs that were taken over the many years of our lifetime together all of which are contained in the published book about Our Love Story.  In addition to this story being told through the 44 poems and the 241 photos contained in my book is various commentary that appears between the covers which advances the telling of Our Love Story.

My goal was also to create a beautiful book that could physically stand on its own as a work of art so that when one views the hardback cover sitting on a coffee table or a desk or facing outward from a book shelf they will marvel at this beautiful work of art that could even be found on display in art museums or libraries.

I hope that the readers of my book find that my poems and our photographs strike a chord in their hearts.  Hopefully this will help them to enhance their Own Love Stories and remind them to hold their sweethearts close and love them for as long as they are given without ever losing the romance they have for each other.  And to the reader who has suffered the loss of a loved one who has passed from this life I hope that Our Love Story will help them to resolve in some small way their own loss and overcome despair. 

Lastly, this book was the means to leave something behind that “Harolyn and Me” could be remembered by after we were both gone, so that we will not be forgotten as if we have never been here before with no footnote in history or a memory of us left behind. 

 Sincerely,

 Melvyn Douglas