Learning romance from a 98 year old basketball coach

Are you as romantic as 98 year-old basketball coach? I think this dude is a good challenge for all the fellas. Here's an excerpt of an interview with former UCLA ball coach John Wooden from Sporting News magazine. He is considered by most to be the best coach of all time but his legacy goes beyond way beyond sports.

SN: "There is much love in this house, isn't there?"

Wooden: "Yes there is. My late wife (who died in 1985), the only girl I ever dated, the only girl I ever went with, picked it out out to be closer to our daughter...."

SN: "Many things are just so: the books, the photographs. And also many things that belonged to Nell-even the little things, like her lipstick. Are you holding on to her still?"

Wooden: "Yes. All the things that she used, like her makeup. And her side of the bed. Her gown is stretched out on her side of the bed since I lost her. And once the sheets are changed, then we put everything back on the same way. So I wouldn't want to leave here."

SN: "Your family speaks with emotion about the letters you write to Nell every month, a simple act that is profoundly touching and romantic. How does it make you feel when you write to her?"

Wooden: "It makes me feel closer to her. It brings back many feelings...(long pause)...that we had between us. It makes me feel better.

SN: "Will your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren read them someday? Or are they just for you and Nell?"

Wooden: "They are between us."

I think this kind of love is a beautiful picture of the love a husband should have for his wife. But ultimately it points us to the love that Christ has for the church: the greater reality to which marriage directs us.