The masterpiece of love

     After finishing his last piece after 50 years of being an artist John had a melancholy feeling seeing his career was coming to a close. Yes he was so grateful that he was able to make a living doing his favorite thing for so long but looking around at all of the packed boxes and his reflection in the mirror he couldn't believe that the man before him with the inset wrinkles and grey hair could really be him. How did the time fly so fast? And where did all of the people he cared so much go? Why did they go? After packing up his last belongings in the studio loaded up the remaining boxes in his car and turned off the light heading into retirement. When driving back to his apartment John was washed over by sadness by the thought that this big step into retirement is all a waste if he couldn't be spending his extra time now with the love of his life Darla. 

     Their story all began in 1960 the world seemed so different then so many possibilities and even though John at the time needed to work many different jobs to get by he always looked at the bright side of things and made the best out of the little money he was getting. He grew up an orphan used to fending for himself and only having himself to take care of. However that all changed when Darla walked into "sunshine dinner" one of the many places John worked at. On a random brisk fall morning at 6:00 AM on the 19th of October his whole world sifted. After meeting eyes with her he already knew she was the love of her life and he needed her phone number no matter what! So in no time he already catched dibs to wait for her table. Every morning from then on Darla would come at 6:00 on the dot at the same booth everyday order a coffee and start on her drawings and every time John would be in he would be serving her table. John being the shy guy he is around women and really any stranger it took him exactly 9 different interactions with Darla to finally muster enough courage to ask what her name was. But after Darla continually came into the dinner every morning they got very comfortable with each other and they started making conversation. After the 20th morning she showed up, John finally asked her for her number to his surprise Darla was completely obliged to give him her number. After that, other than the daily morning breakfast talks they both would call each other to talk some more throughout the day. However after a few weeks the diner started to give notice to its workers that they are about to be out of business and they only will be able to provide work for one more week. Upon hearing this John wasn't even worried for his job but for the good times in his days where he was able to talk to darla each day. He knew he had her number but the phone bills were getting too high and he knew he wasn't going to be able to talk to her as much. That same day before John was able to tell her about his news that he wasn't going to be back at the diner the next week, Darla told him that she was going to move to L.A because there was a good spot as an architect there. That's when it clicked for John that Darla wasn't only an artist but also an architect." wow that's great Darla" John said both happy for her and sad that he wouldn't be so close. "But I also know that there are great job opportunities out there that pay really well if you want." Darla said " But I know you have your job here at the diner and a whole life here, i'm not trying to spring anything on you." "oh my goodness that sounds amazing" John lets slip. "I'm so happy you think so John" John didn't even think before responding to Darla but deep down it felt right to him to go out there with her. His only priority was her, not the random jobs he had here in Tennessee because he could get a job anywhere but Darla was one in a million. 

      In that next week he quit all of his jobs and packed up the little he had with him into his car and drove upstate with Darla. In the many hours driving Darla and him were able to talk and watch the beautiful landscape unfold. Once they arrived John dropped Darla off at her new place and went out to find some jobs right away. One of the job offers that were very surprising to him was to be a helper to an artist downtown. It paid really well so he didn't have to overboard himself with other jobs and he really didn't care what job he was doing he just wanted to get paid to get special things for Darla. So the next day after he dropped Darla off at her new job he went to the address that the pamphlet said and was surprised to see a mansion in front of him. When he entered he met his boss Mike. Mike didn't speak much; he just set the ground rules and the things he needed cleaned every day. So for the next few weeks John came in every day cleaned up Mike's workspace cleaning the brushes mopping the floors etc. John loved this job because he's super good at cleaning so it didn't take him too long to do his job and it left him with tons of free time to spend with Darla. After a while he was able to save up enough money to get her a really special necklace with rubies (her birthstone) and on that date John decided to ask her if they could be official. Darla was over the moon and they were so in love with one another. One day when going into work like normal Mike asked John to give his opinion on his new painting. John, not knowing almost anything about art didn't really know what to say. But since he needed to say something even though he didn't want to hurt his bosses pride he told him that he would just add some more catching colors. By the end of his shift Mike finished the art piece and it looked so so so much better. Each day Mike got more warmed up to John and kept asking him what his art pieces needed and also taught John bits and pieces about art. After a while art grew on John and he started to ask more and more questions about art and its mediums and Mike was more than happy to answer and started to put John on some art projects where John started to succeed. Mike could really see his potential and without him knowing he started to sell john's paintings and pottery and people started to go crazy for his work! Knowing people wanted many more pieces Mike told John about what he did and that people have been paying top dollar for his pieces while handing John the money he collected from the experiment. John saw so much cash he was so shocked that anyone let alone that many people would even buy one of his pieces. 

         So from that day on as well as cleaning up for mike he also was invited to paint with mike and be his business partner. Together they were able to sell many pieces and John was able to build a really good life for himself and hopefully Darla. After two years of dating John planned a grand ordeal to propose to her trying to make the moment as special as possible and once Darla showed up she was so delighted. 6 months later they were happily married to each other for eternity and spent every free hour with each other.John continued creating art pieces with Mike for 5 years until he decided to open his own art studio which was a hit. Darla and John ended up having a family of their own which they loved parenthood more than anything ever, they had two boys and two girls and they were so happy making it their main priority to spend lots of time with their growing children balancing both of their careers. And how did their lives fly. Being successful in each of their careers raising their children into the amazing people they are today. 

        Once Darla and John started to get older they started to get a bit more tired and started to discuss retirement planes. They wanted to retire so that they could travel more and spend more time with their children in the few years that they have left of there life. However in the time of starting retirement plans and dates Darla sadly started to get sick. They continually went to the hospital to see what was going on with her. No doctor could figure it out and just blamed it all on her age which was found out later wasn't the case . John kept on getting madder and madder at the world because this was happening to the love of his life. However through that whole time Darla was calm and peaceful trying to calm John down. They were always able to spend the last moments of her life together. John never left her side not even for a second and held her hand when she peacefully passed away on the 19th of july of 2020 due to covid. At the funeral there children were all there mourning their great loss for a few days until they all needed to go back to where they each live away from L.A. 

     After feeling all alone to this ginormous loss John got lost in his work. He ended up making art his creative aulet for his immense feelings creating numerous pieces conveying his thoughts and memories he had of Darlas and his life together. Then after a few months he decided to finally close up shop and travel the world for both Darla and himself. But on the way home from the end of that chapter he was exceedingly sad thinking that he wasn't going to spend this chapter with his love. When he got home he stayed in the car for about 5 minutes until he finally headed into the house. When he opened the door he was amazed to find that all of his kids came into town to be with him and celebrate his retirement with him. He felt so blessed for the family he and Darla were able to make that would be there for him and for each other always. He ended up traveling all over Europe and the caribbean as well as all over the states spending lot's of time with each one of his kids and his grandchildren cherishing each and every moment he was able to have with them.Two years later on june 19th, 2022 (the same day as Darla) John passed away peacefully in his sleep joining his love once again after having the best and most rich life he could possibly have with the best partner.