This 50th Anniversary Story Will Both Melt & Break Your Heart

Joe Mikolajczak shared the kind of love with his wife Marylou that you read about in fairy tales.

He loved to see her smile and often went through great lengths to surprise her and make her feel special.

"You got to inject some kind of, let's say levity, into the marriage. Just to see her smile was worth it to me," Mikolajczak told WXIX.

Thus, months before their 50th anniversary, Mikolajczak thought up a surprise for her to mark the milestone that she would never forget.

Watch the must-see video, courtesy of WXIX:

Mikolajczak planned to rent a large road sign on the side of a highway in Buffalo, New York to publicly proclaim his undying love for Marylou.

"A year and a half ago, before our 49th, I contracted for the sign," Mikolajczak said. "It was just my way of saying 'I love you.'"

But Marylou would never get to see it. Months before their golden anniversary, she died.

Mikolajczak says he cries himself to sleep every night missing her.

"I miss her every day. I cry every day. I cry every night, and I should cry," Mikolajczak said. "Like I said, she was a beautiful woman inside and outside."

"About a week before she died, I told her what I was going to do, and all she did was look at me and tell me I'm nuts," he added. "But she was worth it. I wanted her to have some sort of recognition."

However, his wife's untimely death did not foil Mikolajczak's plans for the billboard. He still contracted the sign — it just now reads "1944-2013."

(H/T: WXIX)

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