The Story of Him and Her

Epilogue 1
His stomach tumbled over and over, the small black box in his pocket seeming to weigh him down. He'd bought it over two years ago, but then things had gotten in the way, and it was the wrong time. But now…

She walked along next to him, her hand in his, her hair blowing around, catching the gently falling snow. Up ahead was a small clearing, entirely secluded. They made their way into the space.
‘Someone's been here.’ She pointed toward a track of footsteps, leading inwards towards the middle. She moved towards the tracks, and he released her hand. Her slid his hand into his pocket and pulled out the box as she circled to view the written message in the snow. As she was looking at the ground, reading, he took a deep shuddering breath and went down on one knee.

She didn't see him for a moment, as she read the words: Will you marry me, Blair?

And then she looked towards him with a gasp, while the ring sparkled in the faint sunlight. She ran towards him, hugging him, her weight knocking them backwards into the cushioning snow.
‘Yes, of course.’

One Year Later…

This was it. This right here was the moment that every other moment in his life had led to. Emily scattered rose petals on the ground, her hair curled to perfection and tied back. An behind her was a sight so beautiful he could've sworn he'd died. And maybe it was just in his mind, but she seemed to glow as she walked towards him, sliding her hand into his. And in that moment, he felt everything fall into place.

Epilogue 2
The problem with life is that its value resides in the fact that death occurs.  We realize how precious and amazing life can be simply because we also realize at any moment it can come to an end.
Sure, immortality sounds great, but what is life without death? As Dumbledor once queried: is a man alive if he cannot die? Life and death cannot be separated from each other. They are together eternally, each enabling the other to exist.
For something to die, it must once have been alive. For something to live, it must eventually die.
And it circles. Science has shown us that life can only come from life. But the dead help support life. Carcasses provide food not just for other animals but for plants to grow and flourish. And even then, those bodies get broken down until all that's left is the basic essence from which we started.

As the author of dear Blair and Mason, I must admit I'd like to think of them as eternal. I'd like to think that their story is frozen in time, perfect and everlasting. That their love never wavers. That they never fight. That every moment they spend is romantic, loving perfection. That Emily grows up to fall in love with the perfect guy and has kids and all that. In a way, I want to write that perfect ending story as my finale and then leave Blason in their frozen-in-time bliss.

But life isn't like that.

We long for that perfect ending, but how would we appreciate things if everything was flawless? The truth is that while we wish for perfection, it is the imperfections in life that make it worthwhile. While we wish to never be heartbroken or lonely or sad, it allows us to appreciate those times we aren't. And even more so: it allows us to relate to other people, to understand them, to empathize.

And the truth is that Blair and Mason got into fights. They got mad for days on end without making up.

The truth is Emily had her heart broken so many times she gave up on love and nearly missed the perfect person standing in front of her.
The truth is she had two miscarriages and it tore her apart so much she nearly gave up on that too.
The truth is when her only child, Nathaniel, was born she couldn't stop crying about the fact that he was alive and healthy.
The truth is Nathan will never remember his grandfather, because Mason died three years later.

The truth is Blair never felt whole again for the rest of her life.

But I think that in a way love cycles too. I'd like to believe that despite the pain Blason went through, their love was beautiful and strong. And that their love breaks down to develop again in some other couple.

For the truth is that Emily and her husband Aaron and Nathan visit the graves of Blair and Mason, who lie together in the secluded clearing he proposed to her in. And they lie roses at the foot of their gravestone that says the one word that carries so much strength: ‘Stay.’