Saturday, December 11, 2010

Memories

  Today is the perfect day for swimming, August 20, 2009. The sun was bright, only a few clouds in the sky, and the people I loved surrounding me. I had, Christine, Patrick, Ryan, Lindsay, Andy, Keith, and Josh all here. My own little family. We we're splashing about and having chicken fights the whole day, but it was cut short when mother nature decided to ruin it. The wind picked up and the thunder started, soon the rain would come. Everyone scrambled about picking things up, iPods, clothes, speakers, you name it. I was running for the safety of my house when Josh suddenly screamed, "the pool house, the windows are all open." I mentally cursed myself for not remembering to shut them this morning. I sat my stuff down under the umbrella and ran back to help him shut them. "Crazy weather, huh?" Was what he said as I ran into the oversized and over luxurious pool house. I liked having nice things, I didn't flaunt it, I didn't rub it in others faces, it just simply was. The pool house has a bedroom, a fireplace, a huge bathroom, small kitchen, tons of book shelves, a deep brown leather couch to match the wall color, two oversized reading chairs, and a wall of glass. It was more like a guest house. I shifted around objects as I was shutting the windows and noticed it had started pouring down rain and the lightening was dancing off of everything in sight. "Well we can either run out and get drenched or fried, or stay here until it dies down some." I said to Josh as he finished closing the last window. He came over to me and sat on the back of the couch. "I say we stay here for a little while, just us. We haven't had any 'us' time for a while now." He air quoted the word us so I knew exactly what was on his mind. We have married a little over a year now and both have a very hectic work schedule. Yes, we work at the same place but it doesn't mean we are going to be needed in the same location at the same time. I hated it. "I know." I frowned and looked down towards the floor as he stood while pulling me into a hug. "Hey now, don't get so gloomy. We have the pool house all to ourselves, the perfect weather for snuggling up, plenty of fire wood for the fireplace, but more importantly, we have each other." He was the sweetest guy I had ever met and I was so lucky to have him. I smiled at him, "babe, go start a fire, I'll be back in a second." I ran into the bathroom, thanking God I had a spare set of clothes in there from earlier, I slipped everything on and was running out the door when I noticed our dogtags hanging on a hook next to the light switch. I put mine on and smiled as I saw him struggling with the fireplace. I sat down after putting a pot of coffee on and enjoyed the show. 30 minutes and a few swear words from him later the fire was raging and became really toasty in the room. I had already finished my first cup of coffee and was working on my second when Josh got done changing and came to me wrapping his arms around my waste from over the back of the couch. "Hey you." I said. "Hey back." He replied with a kiss on the cheek. "Come, sit, enjoy coffee." I smiled as he did as he was told. "You know what I'd enjoy more though?" A smirk on his face as he spoke the words. "Hmmm, a cookie?" I smiled, pretending to not know where this was leading too. "Nope." He said popping the 'p'. "A kiss." He said. "Oh really? I think I can manage that." I leaned over to kiss him  but instead flicked his nose. As soon as it registered what I did to him the race was one. I sat my coffee down and took off. He may have been fast but I was way faster as maneuvering through objects. Finally though, as I was jumping over the coffee table, he caught my foot and sent me falling to the floor. I landed with a loud thud and a fit of hysterics as he leaned over me with the goofiest grin on his face. He was enjoying his "victory" and didn't even notice me moving to a better position. One that was perfect for kicking his feet out from underneath him. Now he was the one lying on the floor and I was the one laughing. The look on his face was priceless! We called a truce and he wiggled to where we were cuddled up in front of the fire. "You know Anna, I couldn't picture today getting any better about an hour ago, but I think I was wrong." His breath was warm on my neck as he whispered those words into my ear. "I think you're right." I smiled even though I knew that he couldn't see.

About an hour later one of our phones started to buzz, so Josh got up and went to check. "It's Patrick, everyone is leaving. He said to have fun with a winking face next to it." My checks immediately turned red. "We're not even getting it on!" I screamed. Men, they can be so perverted sometimes. I giggled to myself as Josh walked to the couch and grabbed a couple pillows and a blanket. After he put a pillow under my head and draped the blanket over me he went and grabbed a book from the bookshelf. It was a simple book, it was warn, and the pages were stained, but it was one of my favorites, it was a book of poems from a variety of different authors. He settled back down next to me and propped himself up with his elbow and begin reading it to me. I had always enjoyed poetry and have always loved when it was read to me. Even as a child if someone was reading poetry I'd be there listening to every word. We stayed like that for hours, even after the storm had died down, just laughing, reading, talking, and enjoying each other. Days like this, where we could relax and not have to worry about work, were few and far between, so we take full advantage of them when we can.

"Mom, hello, Earth to mom!" I heard a voice saying, raising every time a new word would come out of her mouth. I was snapped back to reality by Allie, my daughter. She was sitting to my right at our breakfast room table. Two walls of glass, one to my left and one ahead of me were surrounding us. It was 7:30am on December 8, 2010, we were doing our morning ritual, bacon and eggs for Allie, and a cup of coffee for me. "Sorry my love, I got carried away with my thoughts again." My gloomy mood evident in my tone and on my face. Allie frowned. "Mom, I'm 7, you don't have to hide things from me anymore. Plus, I know what today is." A look flashed across her face. One that I almost didn't catch. It was worry. My daughter, for being 7 years old, was extremely smart and was good at not prying, asking to many questions, and fearless. She knew when and where things should be said, done, and overlooked. She was two grades above her age group and was always helping her fellow students with understanding what the teachers were trying to teach. Sometimes she was too smart for her own good. I suppose she got that from me.

December 8, 2009, the day I lost my best friend.

2 comments:

Tabitha Blake said...

Wow! Great story. I really enjoyed it. I look forward to reading more if your creative thoughts.

Abigail-Madison Chase said...

Awe really nice story