A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Today from StoryCorps, a love story in two parts. Christine Berro and Andy Keeler interviewed each other in 2007, just a few months after their wedding. It was a second marriage for both. Each had lost a partner in the years prior.
CHRISTINE BERRO: What was the saddest moment of your life?
ANDY KEELER: I hate to say. I have to look in your - in the eye when I do this. Seeing Jan die. You know, she was the person that I thought that I was going to live with forever, love forever. It's strange, but the things you miss most are small things - cold feet on your back in the middle of the night. And soon you go, oh, man, I wish she was here. What about you?
BERRO: After Emil died and the kids went back to school. The first night I was home alone in my house was pretty tough.
KEELER: I've thought a lot about what is love and what does it mean to me, you know? I mean, you had love to begin with. Why wasn't that good enough? Because I almost thought that it was, for me.
BERRO: Well, I kind of thought, like you did for a while, too. But I think love is limitless. I was lonely. I wanted someone to put my cold feet in their back. Your life with Jan and my life with Emil got us to where we are. We're intertwined. And it's a beautiful gift.
KEELER: I think at this point I'm supposed to say, shut up and kiss me, but...
BERRO: That would be nice.
MARTÍNEZ: Sixteen years later, Christine and Andy are still together, and they recently recorded another StoryCorps interview.
KEELER: There anything about me that surprised you a little bit?
BERRO: It's an easy answer for me.
KEELER: Oh, all right.
BERRO: The answer is how well you take care of me.
KEELER: That surprised you?
BERRO: The depth of how well you take care of me. In what moments do you think about Jan?
KEELER: This time of year, I think about her constantly. Thanksgiving is coming up, and, you know, that's very near when she died. And I'm still no treat to be around the month of November.
BERRO: I have similar things with Emil.
KEELER: His birthday's coming up.
BERRO: Yeah, just a few days. But I feel like I know Jan. I may have never physically met her, but I feel like I know her pretty well.
KEELER: Emil and Jan, in a way, had the hard part. It was Jan's job to take the rough edges off me. All I can tell you is I love you, and I want to love you just a minute more and a minute after that.
BERRO: It's a deal.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTÍNEZ: Christine Berro and Andy Keeler. Their StoryCorps conversations are archived at the Library of Congress.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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