(If you missed part one click the link below)
Part One
Age 12
It's almost time for baseball
practice. My parent's decided to wait
before signing me up and now in my first year I have to play kid pitch. So far this season I have already torn all the ligaments in my elbow. I'm holding down the bench. Today Dad is
sick and laying on the couch. Maybe he
has the flu. This means Mom has to take
me. I'm better off with her taking me
anyway. Odds are my Dad will
just sit in the car and fall asleep.
A couple hours pass and we head
home. Dad is still on the couch. His situation has gotten much worse and Mom calls for an ambulance.
The paramedics arrive and Dad is talking to them as if nothing is
wrong. After hours of being incoherent
and passed out he's now able to speak with clarity. He sounds like he's not even sick. This is always how he handles pressure
situations. EMTs find it's best to take
him to the hospital. I stay back with my
sister.
It's been a few hours and Mom comes to pick us up. Dad's situation
has worsened and he was moved to the intensive care unit. He's in the back corner of the room. It's not too big and dimly lit. There's a nurses station in the center of the
room so we have to pass all the rooms to get to him. There's a sinking feeling being in here.
In my Dad's room
and he's out. Mom is a mess. There are so many machines, numbers, buttons,
and sounds. I'm shifting my focus from
one machine to another guessing what's going on. No such luck.
After a while, the doctor comes in to let us know what's wrong. Dad has bacterial meningitis. I have no idea
what that is but the doctor doesn't make it sound good. There is little chance of my dad
surviving. Mom let's my sister and me know that our Grandpa and Uncle
are on their way to the hospital. We
move to a small waiting room across the hallway from the intensive care
unit. I don't know too much about plants
but it might be a fern in the corner.
Aside from Mom, my sister, the fern, and a couple chairs this
waiting room is barren and small.
My extended family makes it down to Massillon and we head to
the cafeteria. My Grandpa and his
girlfriend buy dinner for my sister and me.
They're also calm throughout all that's going on.
The priest from our church comes to
visit Dad and
gives him his last
rights. He has his Bible and
oil and starts to pray. My eyes don't
leave Dad.
This is too much. Mom thanks the priest and we make our way
back to the waiting room. The tears
continue to flow. Mom takes us home.
A couple days later,
a family friend from my Dad's National Guard unit visits him.
Dad's feet start moving.
Age 21
Today
is Mother's Day. Mom has the engagement ring at her house for safekeeping. I opened a credit card and bought it a few
days ago. Aimee doesn't know I bought it, even though we picked it
out a couple weeks ago. I'm trying to
think of a way to propose and nothing comes to me. I'm just nervous. At Mom's, house her face lights up when I walk through
the door. She tells me how beautiful the
ring is and that she was afraid to leave it out of her sight. Her excitement is contagious. Happy Mother's
day, Mom. Your gift is another daughter.
To
Aimee
tonight is just another night. We're
sitting in my apartment and something is on the television. I couldn't tell you what's on. I'm looking right through it.
"Let's
go for a drive."
Our
drive leads us to Stadium
Park. The ring is in my pocket and I'm trying my
best to hide the ring box shaped bulge in my jeans. It's dark outside so it makes hiding it much
easier. There's no destination point for
the proposal. We make it to a small bridge
on the walking path. My hands are
shaking as if I'm outside in January without gloves.
She has to hear my heart beating. Is this what it feels like to have a heart attack?
I stop us and get on one knee. No words are coming out.
Something mumbles out about marriage and she replies
"Yes".
Success.
We decide
on June 7, 2008 (6/7/08). It's a nice,
easy to remember, date. I need all the
help I can get. The next year is a
whirlwind of planning, floral designs, and food tastings. I start growing my hair out so I don't have a
buzzed head for wedding pictures. My
hair needs to stay within Army guidelines, can't let it touch my ears. Aimee
often mentions that wishes she had someone who wasn't so opinionated. Contrary to what people tell me, this is my
wedding too. My number one request was
to have a white tuxedo. No one else seems to think this is a good
idea, because apparently I'm too pale for it to work. We decide on black but I have a longer jacket
than everyone else does. I ask my friend
Josh to be my best man and he accepts. A
month before the wedding he goes into hiding and doesn't talk to me. Thanks a lot.
The
day has arrived and my new best man, Alex, gets everybody in my wedding party
breakfast. We make it to the church and Aimee's maid of
honor asks me for the rings.
"I
don't have the rings. Aimee does."
"She
says you have them."
Shoot.
I do have them.
At home.
Alex
drives me to get them.
I should have picked him in the first
place. I'm not bitter.
Over
the past year, I haven't been nervous. A
half hour before the music starts I'm in a back room of the sanctuary and
people start filing taking their seats.
I feel and hear my heart again. Now I'm certain that people will hear it.
The rest of my wedding party enters
the room and it's time for the rehearsed walk to the altar. Aimee's music starts and she enters the sanctuary with
her dad. Everyone else disappears. She's wearing a strapless flowing white
dress. Her heels give her another couple
of inches but when she makes it to me; I'm still taller than she is. Phew.
Pastor Mary Kay performs the service and like a flash, it's over.
We
take pictures for an hour, the sanctuary is transformed into a reception hall,
and the guests come back to fill in around the tables. We're so tired and busy that we don't have an
appetite to eat.
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