“…You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays…”
Professor H. Hill
Sometimes you just know.
It was 2012, mid-August or so. On an escalating basis my evenings filled with conversation and Carrie, and my mornings with ebullient calls to the Little One.
“Take your time Dad. You don’t have to see her every night.”
“Don’t worry. We’re taking it slow and steady.”
Ah, but sometimes you just know, and by November we shared a roof.
Some rolled their eyes at the speed; others were thrilled (or pretended). And then there was Dick, her brother, my college roommate, and a man who has had the distinct privilege of serving as an usher at both of our weddings…
“Well, B,” he waxed philosophic, “ I just pray it’ll be a safe landing for both of you.”
“…People fall in love in mysterious ways…”
Sometimes I marvel at the remarkable confluence of events requisite to my union with CJ.
When I was a kid I’d be talking with my father, saying something like “If this happens, then… — or what if …”. He had back then this saying he’d throw in my face to remind me how big “ifs” were. Reducing matters to the least common denominator the man would inevitably spit out “If my aunt had nuts she’d be my uncle”.
Ifs…
IF Howard Ross hadn’t urged the Nemos to see the “Happy Together” concert at Cain Park, I’d never have gone.
IF Dick Baskin hadn’t come to town that first week in July, the boys would not have had breakfast at Corky’s.
IF The Envelope Lady wasn’t already going when I’d asked her, I wouldn’t have been sitting on an unused ticket.
IF I hadn’t been seated across from Dick that morning, someone else might well have driven him back down Chagrin to his mother’s.
IF we weren’t in the car one-on-one, I’d never have had the opportunity or impulse to ask about his sister.
IF she’d have followed her first inclination, Carrie would never have come to the concert.
And indeed—
IF I’d have known it was a real date…well….
Ah, but that was thirty-some months ago, and as Brother Dick now sees, we are still in ascension. Still, when this August’s news hit, it was more of the same. Many were thrilled; some but pretended; and others? Well, let’s just say not everyone was doing handstands.
Oh, and there’s been one other constant! This beautiful creature — the one with the Ocean Eyes — she and I …
We just know.
— That there’s nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come.
— That “we found love right where we are”.
— And that Yes, clearly, we are Happy Together.
“A love story as good (as ours) deserves a shot at a happy ending…”
Kate Beckett
What I love is that you know how lucky and privileged you are — and Carrie too. I can hear and see your dad saying, “If my aunt had nuts she’d be my uncle”.