A woman found herself outside the Pearly Gates, where she was greeted by St. Peter. “Am I where I think I am?” she exclaimed. “It’s so beautiful! Did I really make it to heaven?”
To which St. Peter replied, “Yes, my dear, these are the Gates to Heaven. But you must do one thing before you can enter.”
Very excited, the woman asked what she must do to pass through the gates. “Spell a word,” St. Peter replied.
“What word?” she asked. "Any word,"answered St. Peter. “It’s your choice.”
The woman promptly replied, “The word I will spell is love. L-o-v-e.”
St. Peter congratulated her on her good fortune of making it into Heaven and then asked her if she would take his place at the gates for a moment while he went to the bathroom.
“I’d be honored,” she said, “but what should I do if someone comes while you are gone?” St. Peter instructed her to require any newcomers to spell a word, just as she had done.
So the woman took St. Peter’s chair and watched the beautiful angels soaring around her, when lo and behold, a man approached the gates. It was her husband! “What happened?” she cried. “Why are you here?”
Her husband explained, “I was so upset when I left your funeral that I got into an automobile accident. Now I am here, ready to join you in Heaven.”
“Not just yet,” the woman replied.
“First you must spell a word.”
“What word?” he asked.
“Czechoslovakia.”