{"id":7776,"date":"2026-10-17T00:23:52","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T00:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?p=7776"},"modified":"2026-10-17T00:23:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T00:23:52","slug":"i-mourned-the-man-i-was-engaged-to-for-most-of-my-long-quiet-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?p=7776","title":{"rendered":"I Mourned The Man I Was Engaged To For Most Of My Long, Quiet Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Marisa stepped aside, and I saw him. He sat in a wheelchair by the front window, a blanket over his knees. The left side of his face was a map of old, healed burns, and his hands were curled and stiff. But his eyes were the same pale gray I had watched across a dance floor at seventeen. They filled with tears the moment he saw me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHello, Dandylion,\u201d he said hoarsely. I couldn\u2019t move. I couldn\u2019t breathe. Then I heard myself ask the only question that mattered. \u201cBobby, why did you let me think you were dead?\u201d His face crumpled. He reached beside his chair and lifted a battered shoebox onto his lap. \u201cI didn\u2019t,\u201d he whispered. \u201cI wrote you forty-three letters from that hospital. My mother promised she mailed every one.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;margin: 20px 0\">\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?p=7774\" class=\"pulse-btn\"><br \/>\n    CONTINUE READING \u2192<br \/>\n  <\/a>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marisa stepped aside, and I saw him. He sat in a wheelchair by the front window, a blanket over his knees. The left side of his face&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7779,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>I Mourned The Man I Was Engaged To For Most Of My Long, Quiet Life - FUN STORIES<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?p=7776\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I Mourned The Man I Was Engaged To For Most Of My Long, Quiet Life - FUN STORIES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Marisa stepped aside, and I saw him. He sat in a wheelchair by the front window, a blanket over his knees. The left side of his face...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?p=7776\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FUN STORIES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-17T00:23:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1jEUb.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1216\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1632\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adrian Vale\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adrian Vale\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/?p=7776#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/?p=7776\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Adrian Vale\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d6d7c00ee381f7d916f75341440bcb75\"},\"headline\":\"I Mourned The Man I Was Engaged To For Most Of My Long, Quiet Life\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-17T00:23:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/?p=7776\"},\"wordCount\":153,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/?p=7776#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/1jEUb.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/?p=7776\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/?p=7776\",\"name\":\"I Mourned The Man I Was Engaged To For Most Of My Long, Quiet Life - FUN STORIES\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/?p=7776#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/?p=7776#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/1jEUb.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-17T00:23:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d6d7c00ee381f7d916f75341440bcb75\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/?p=7776#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/?p=7776\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/?p=7776#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/1jEUb.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/1jEUb.jpg\",\"width\":1216,\"height\":1632,\"caption\":\"Signature: 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\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/?p=7776#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"I Mourned The Man I Was Engaged To For Most Of My Long, Quiet Life\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"FUN STORIES\",\"description\":\"Stories inspired by everyday life\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d6d7c00ee381f7d916f75341440bcb75\",\"name\":\"Adrian Vale\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/wH4iB-1-150x150.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/wH4iB-1-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/wH4iB-1-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Adrian Vale\"},\"description\":\"Adrian Vale studied English literature. He is a novelist. He writes atmospheric literary fiction, quiet, character-driven stories about people who drift out of their own lives and the strange, lingering things that find them afterward.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalnews25.com\\\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I Mourned The Man I Was Engaged To For Most Of My Long, Quiet Life - FUN STORIES","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?p=7776","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"I Mourned The Man I Was Engaged To For Most Of My Long, Quiet Life - FUN STORIES","og_description":"Marisa stepped aside, and I saw him. He sat in a wheelchair by the front window, a blanket over his knees. The left side of his face...","og_url":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?p=7776","og_site_name":"FUN STORIES","article_published_time":"2026-10-17T00:23:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1216,"height":1632,"url":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1jEUb.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Adrian Vale","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Adrian Vale"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?p=7776#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?p=7776"},"author":{"name":"Adrian Vale","@id":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d6d7c00ee381f7d916f75341440bcb75"},"headline":"I Mourned The Man I Was Engaged To For Most Of My Long, Quiet Life","datePublished":"2026-10-17T00:23:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?p=7776"},"wordCount":153,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?p=7776#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1jEUb.jpg","articleSection":["Stories"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?p=7776","url":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?p=7776","name":"I Mourned The Man I Was Engaged To For Most Of My Long, Quiet Life - FUN STORIES","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?p=7776#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?p=7776#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1jEUb.jpg","datePublished":"2026-10-17T00:23:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d6d7c00ee381f7d916f75341440bcb75"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?p=7776#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?p=7776"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?p=7776#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1jEUb.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1jEUb.jpg","width":1216,"height":1632,"caption":"Signature: W9fhXYwaI7m+IR7mhww79AbmWDCWYSw6reyLCIzKISXqNrZ7yyOQE6YBfUZ2c67LKPtOVShGMbNAD0z17UVe3p5DJKfCiqrZmUIgy2DB5PclT5c0sVMF4gOawvjjGAcuJPjQ2A6Y4jC5NM8oIGJj1PMl3KK8\/CFwaeKpmtLDjQ4UaLvM2MH9fzY8u8sOw19WcdUHjF\/Y8gS1xqcAUuDKjiCcjGS9ULQ29JzIEibm33PasmKjKBnvwPFHCLcp1SwVEOl74xdydXL1ajc\/uurHJJHZyzT0DMZyrxHgNuY42MFBBEXwhQrKA1KlmZl9domEhrKA1VSlgXjW4\/86RpFUOEKam07ikvnDPNsk0o1v1QZJ1qJ5I9MnNcZhNTUjn8uuPe\/dqXDSSDsZNdpeVe03XW6Fq6y6k0SA7g06Qxj9ZaO\/rdBp3dJ9U\/zClamtX0Lq8ijKDDTPrMK3gVStpnsDDX5wm+JYy4KH7nKOC3foSUSr7Y1NwrCXJ6FS+5lzHOcwZkQI87Cfx2sOs1HJTsW8urFHiQ+d6+CHPRY2Y470XW+sYwUI8VhbBAKzLGYTtbCifx2mimZxA68D1RTiHWw9RzZwqpq+zOBDwxr9UUynZ+I1+6efALqssLUtsU04lakqekaKmf2+BfQE8x4uVuwsC4P4a3sUZLdWpv71VcWq20thlxI5+VQF1SJC696XEekEmD7NcBuLk697k0\/yurqgFgQgQHyKGr2dePodGomLKkb8nH8MEawJf9sR4bTzuQnGZx3kLzB8kj866AHrFbrLJw4cEg2iK0cjjffzHmTFc1wYc9McI89yF9aGGAD1A8LfEkHWpbBuduxqemPHDvvwdtdM+sqBeU4p6b41M74qLrlt+gwl5HRz+czBwTK3fBW0uHOjZ9JnwBxmjSjc4fiJZzW9BNOfNJ+\/oWZYF8TMb2mTZex8Zhn2SZ4D9Uo72vlGSUKeEj7FmCVfOXyKxnUbb1nSxxshCX4cPrtqPQlc3vg="},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?p=7776#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"I Mourned The Man I Was Engaged To For Most Of My Long, Quiet Life"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/","name":"FUN STORIES","description":"Stories inspired by everyday life","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d6d7c00ee381f7d916f75341440bcb75","name":"Adrian Vale","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/wH4iB-1-150x150.jpg","url":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/wH4iB-1-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/wH4iB-1-150x150.jpg","caption":"Adrian Vale"},"description":"Adrian Vale studied English literature. He is a novelist. He writes atmospheric literary fiction, quiet, character-driven stories about people who drift out of their own lives and the strange, lingering things that find them afterward.","url":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/?author=2"}]}},"views":2283,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7780,"href":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7776\/revisions\/7780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalnews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}