A photo of a grandfather eating a meal in front of his late wife’s memorial at his granddaughter’s wedding is going viral.
Over the weekend on Twitter, bride Sahrah Elswick shared a snap from her wedding celebration featuring “pawpaw” Billy Gray.
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On her big day, Elswick arranged a memorial consisting of a rocking chair adorned with family photos, lights, and a message that read, “We know you would be here today if heaven wasn’t so far away,” to honor her deceased grandmother Barbara — who passed away two years ago from colon cancer.
At the reception, grandpa Billy — sitting on a bale of hay — ate his wedding meal in front of the rocking chair, and appeared to be lost in thought, possibly thinking of his late wife of 45 years.
Sahrah added the caption:
“Pawpaw sat and ate with mawmaw today at my wedding”
“Mawmaw” can be seen in the right photo (below) in the top left corner:
https://twitter.com/sahrahMichelle/status/1147735689053839360
Though she did not take the photo, Elswick witnessed the scene, and cried “uncontrollably not far behind [her grandpa].”
She added:
“He’s so sweet I can’t handle it… It’s been 2 years without her and I still can’t believe it.”
On Tuesday, the 20-year-old — now married to Zachery Elswick — gave an interview to Best Life where she elaborated on her grandmother’s tribute.
She divulged:
“I wanted to include her because she was always such an important person in my life and I don’t think I could have even had a wedding without her ‘there’ in some way.'”
When asked how her grandparents met, Sahrah said:
“My grandpa helped with the trash run in their home town and he went to their house to pick up her garbage and she was outside… He thought she was the most beautiful woman and asked her what her name was and he says the rest is history.”
When she saw her pawpaw eating in front of the rocking chair, she “completely broke down,” explaining:
“I had to have a guest at my wedding get a picture because I completely broke down when I saw what he was doing… It was the most pure thing I have ever seen and it completely broke my heart.”
As of this writing, the sweet pic has received over 177K likes, and has been retweeted over 19K times.
Though Sahrah did not expect her post to go viral, she is glad it “touched” so many people.
“Everyone seems to be so touched by his small act of love, it warms my heart. Everyone deserves someone who would do the same thing as my grandfather did without looking for any sort of attention. I want to photo to send the message that love never dies.”
Truly a heartwarming story!
[Image via Sahrah Elswick/Twitter.]
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