Woman who lost her husband of 45 years to cancer gets an unexpected Valentine's Day gift after his death

There is nothing that can ever prepare you for the death of a partner. Irrespective of whether you've had the time to prepare for it due to an illness or if it occurs all too suddenly, the void that follows is unimaginable. Watching her husband fight the battle against glioblastoma, a rare form of brain cancer, and not being able to do anything about it was heartbreaking for Debra Tenney. After all, they had been together since they were children, and their love for each other only grew over the years. The two were such a great pair that their marriage lasted 45 beautiful years. Her love for him was all-encompassing. But despite the family's prayers and the doctors' efforts, Randy Tenney passed away in December 2019, and the devoted wife was devastated. They had stuck together as man and wife until death did them apart.

“It was so, so hard. We kept praying for miracles, and just nothing went right. We just didn’t get any of the miracles we wanted,” Debra said, according to Fox 19 Now. And soon he was gone. “We thought we could have a big birthday party for him, we thought we could have Christmas. You know, Thanksgiving. We got none of it,” she continued. 

However, he probably knew his end was closer than what others had predicted. Knowing how heartbroken and lonely his beloved would be after he passed, he took the effort to execute a beautiful gesture, revealing what a true gentleman he was. Knowing that he wouldn't live to see February 14, 2020, Randy made an arrangement with a family friend, who is a florist, to give his wife a sweet surprise. "He had texted her before he passed, 'I want you to send her a bouquet of yellow roses, for Valentine's Day,'" the grief-stricken wife recalled.

And just a day before Valentine's Day, the special bouquet arrived. When Debra read the card amongst the beautiful yellow flowers, she broke down in tears. “When I walked over and opened the card, I couldn’t even control myself. It was, it was him,” she said, according to News12.

“It was all Dad,” their daughter, who was behind the camera, affirmed. “He didn’t want you to be without a valentine.” The lovely couple had a sweet tradition every year when Ray would give her flowers along with a silly poem. "It always started out with roses are red violets are blue," she added. However, this year was different. This year, too, it began in his trademark cheeky way. Yet with an additional message that was a balm to his wife's broken heart.

"Roses are red. Violets are blue.

Yelling from heaven that I will always love you.

With Love from your eternal Valentine RT."

"And I guess you could call this my real life P.S. I Love You miracle,” said Debra. Taking to Facebook to share this token of love, she shared the video of her accepting her late husband's gift with the caption: "Today I got a special delivery straight from heaven. Randy set this up before he passed away and I can’t think of anything sweeter. I miss my valentine so much. He’s the best."

The heartwarming post went viral, garnering 89,000 shares and tons of positivity. Survived by his wife, eight children, 33 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren, this man showed us the meaning of true love. He proved that death cannot put an end to a love story as incredible and true as theirs. This video captures the precious moment.