I believe that love continues to grow and blossom when couples never stop surprising and delighting each other. It doesn’t matter how long they live together; be it one month or 50 years.

April 10 was my birthday, and my husband Bill and I were finally together again in Bermuda. We had been apart for three weeks.

He was in Nashville, Tennessee recording his latest blues album, and I was in San Francisco taking care of my ailing mom. We were both exhausted, not only from travel but also from our intense and long hours of work abroad.

I honestly didn’t expect any birthday celebration, I was just happy to be safe at home in Bermuda.

Yet, on the sunny afternoon of my birthday, Bill sat down next to me on the couch and said he had a present for me. I looked around for a gift; perhaps something small and beautifully wrapped? Instead he flipped open his laptop and handed me a pair of his professional headphones.

“Happy birthday my love. I wrote this for you.” His blue grey eyes were calm and a slight smile touched his lips.

I put the headphones on my head, closed my eyes and listened. The music had a hushed and quiet rhythm, and the guitar floated in graceful arpeggios to the beat. Then I heard him sing in his low and sexy voice:

“Nina, you are the stars to me,

You are my heaven in a cup of rain.

We found the morning sun together,

After a night so free and blind …”

I began to cry. He was telling the story of when we first met in Dockyard almost nine years ago. Bill’s song was simply titled Nina. Its honesty and lyric beauty shone straight into my heart.

I imagined a ballad in Europe’s distant past. A time when a man wearing a velvet jacket, lace collar, cocked hat and a gleaming sword passionately sang his poem for the woman of his dreams under her balcony night after night, adoration and love woven into the gentle fabric of his song.

Bill’s sonorous voice, touching and evocative among the elegant guitars, told a story we both know so well … the magic of our chance meeting at Dockyard, among a crowd of hundreds, an instant that would change us for ever.

Our lives together ripple through time from this one moment, and Bill captured its frailty and enduring love with exquisite delicacy and grace.

As I listened, he was staring out the window at the ragged reefs of the South Shore shimmering in the morning sun. He could hear the melody from the headphones faintly, and he turned to look at me at the very end.

Our eyes met and we knew once again how strong and caring can be the hands of fate when nurturing love.

I will never forget this exceptional moment. The turquoise ocean, a spring sun, and a beautiful song, brought back for me by Bill from far away and snowy Nashville.

Nina London is a certified wellness and weight-management coach. Her mission is to support and inspire mature women to make positive changes in their body and mind. Share your inspirational stories with her at www.ninalondon.com