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Jack flipped down the
visor on the truck as he and Kathy proceeded towards the sun on their way
to the ocean shores. “I am looking so forward to this weekend. It is
about time that you got out of that hospital and into a comfy chair.”
“You just don’t know
how good it feels to get out of that hospital. I love my job as a
traveling nurse, but I really need a break away from it all,” Kathy stated
as she looked out to see rows of short trees with a sign in front of them
reading "Planted 2004."
“I can’t believe all
the places that we have been in the last few years—from traveling the
entire Pacific
Coast Highway
through California, Oregon, and Washington, to seeing the scene of the
Buddy Holley crash in
Iowa,
to experiencing Hurricane Wilma in Southern Florida. It’s difficult to
accept that I’ve had you through all this.”
Silence fell upon the
cab of the truck as Kathy looked at more tree-lined hills with sparsely
scattered houses dotted amongst the red cedars. She and Jack had met
online in April of 1996, and they said their wedding vows in January the
following year. It had been a long ten years, but then again, it had been
a short ten years. So many things had changed since they had first joined
their lives.
After living in
Idaho
for three years, they rented out the house and moved to
Arizona.
Arizona
was a great place, but after four years they found themselves establishing
their home once again in
Idaho. Kathy became
a traveling nurse, and after four years they had been to
California,
Arizona, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Iowa, Florida, Tennessee, Oregon, and
Washington. As a traveling nurse, Kathy did contract work at different
hospitals around the
United States.
It was a wonderful way to see the country and make a living.
Last year Kevin
started chatting with a girl on the Internet, and they had become quite
close—in fact, so close that Kevin wanted to move to Washington to be near
Sharon as soon as he turned eighteen. And well, that was how Kathy, Jack,
and Kevin ended up in Washington, so that a second-generation online
romance could be brought into reality to flourish and grow into a lasting
relationship.
“You have arrived,”
was heard coming through the navigational system that woke Kathy up out of
her flashback. She looked up to see the sign above the road, “Welcome To
Ocean Paradise.”
Jack helped the
bellman get the bags out of the truck while Kathy went to the registration
counter. “Reservations for Slone,” she said.
“Let me see,” stated
the clerk as she searched through a thin file of half-sheets of paper.
“Yes, I see that you have the anniversary package. Congratulations.”
“Thank you. Hard to
believe that it will be ten years as of tomorrow that we joined hands at a
small chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada.”
“Here are your keys.
Have a great weekend and enjoy the ocean and great food we have here.”
Upon entering the
room, Kathy’s eyes immediately passed by the fireplace at the end of the
king-size bed and over to the ocean view just outside their window.
Walking over to the window, she slid the glass pane over and took in a
breath of fresh air that had been touched by the crashing waves just one
hundred feet to the west.
Jack took the two
champagne flutes and filled them. After handing Kathy her champagne, he
placed the plate of grapes and strawberries on the large cushioned beige
ottoman. The strawberries had been dipped in dark chocolate, then
decorated with delicate lines of white chocolate.
“I still can’t
believe that it’s been eleven years since we met and ten years since we
tied the knot,” Jack voiced as he took one of the strawberries and placed
it between Kathy’s lips.
“Me either,” Kathy
replied as she took a strawberry and fed it to Jack.
The champagne flutes
were held up as Jack softly whispered, “Out of you and me, we made us.”
The cold champagne
eased over Kathy’s tongue and the sweetness brought a warm feeling all
over as Jack leaned over and whispered, “I love you more now than I did
then,” He softly planted a kiss on Kathy’s lips.
Kathy leaned back
against the loveseat and asked, “Do you remember the day that we met?”
Hey, I may be older,
but I still remember the day that changed my life so dramatically just
like it was yesterday.”
A smile came across
two faces as two minds wondered back to April 1996… |
