Astronaut recalls one phone call that hit harder than any space calamity — and reminded him what love was all about
'The one thing they can't simulate, can't drill, and can't prepare you for is in sickness and in health,' the celebrity astronaut said.
Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut and a U.S. senator from Arizona, met his wife, Gabby Giffords, and instantly fell for her. In 2007, they even got married, in hopes of starting a forever-happy life together. However, Giffords fell victim to the 2011 Tucson shooting, leading to temporary speech impairment. She was shot in the head and even today struggles with aphasia, a language disorder caused by brain damage. In conversation with Preston Rakovsky (@prestonrack), a content creator, Kelly shared how that particular incident changed his perspective about the profundity of wedding vows and love in general. The post was uploaded on January 8 and is spreading hope like an out-of-control wildfire.
When Kelly was preparing to become an astronaut, he explained, they prepared him for every emergency. "But the one thing they can't simulate, can't drill, and can't prepare you for is in sickness and in health," he said. For Kelly, it was love at first sight when he saw his now-wife, Giffords. She was confident, charismatic, and easily became the star of every room she entered, and Kelly loved that about her. The couple married in 2007, and Kelly didn't realize the importance of every word he spoke in his wedding vows until Giffords' terrifying accident. He was in Houston when he received a call informing him about his wife's condition. "They told me she might not survive, and even if she did, she might not be the same," Kelly recalled.
Giffords survived, but the brain injury took away her speech. "Those vows weren't about the life we hoped to have; they were about this life, whatever it became," he added. Both fought back for each other because "love is a partnership in sickness and health," Kelly explained. Six months after the incident, Giffords, still in speech therapy, was struggling to speak to her husband, and that's when he realized the true meaning of the wedding vows. "Vows aren't about when it's easy; they are about when the love of your life can't ask you a question, when they have to relearn their own name, when the future you planned together is gone, and still you choose us, because when you said, 'In sickness and health,' you meant it, every word," Kelly exclaimed. You can check out the post here.
Kelly and his wife, Giffords', relationship is special because a substantial number of divorces happen when either of the partners falls sick. Researchers Amelia Karraker and Kenzie Latham, in their study, found that 31% of the marriages ended in divorce during the onset of serious physical illnesses like cancer, heart problems, lung disease, and stroke. "We found that women are doubly vulnerable to marital dissolution in the face of illness. They are more likely to be widowed, and if they are the ones who become ill, they are more likely to get divorced," Karraker revealed.
Meanwhile, reacting to the Instagram post, @kennyuling commented, "Remember that you are worthy of this love. If you can offer this kind of love, you are worthy of it in return. This love may not be in the form of a partner. It could be a friend. It could be a pet. If you are reading this, I wish you to find, nurture, and hold this love!" @therunciblespoonie wrote, "For any woman living with disability or chronic illness, Mark Kelly should be the bare minimum standard for a partner. Yes, I specify women because the rate of abandonment in heterosexual dynamics is 1 in 5, as opposed to 1 in 20 when the genders are reversed." @ssammyang shared, "Her beautiful smile shows all the years he took care of her, really took care of her. May this love find all of us."
You can follow Preston Rakovsky (@prestonrack) on Instagram for more relationship-related content.
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