My sister had invited me to come meet her new love. I can't remember if they were married yet, but I think they were. Mom had done the unthinkable, and had sent my sister packing from home. Mama couldn't accept her free spirit, and because of that we hadn't seen her for several months. My husband had become concerned about her and had begun searching for her earlier, and discovered someone driving her little red doodle bug without her in it. His imagination went to the worst of our fears and he followed the person driving all over Charlotte until he simply couldn't any more. This began a series of events that led to us finding her, and inviting her over for spagetti dinner to our house with a friend. She looked surprisingly good, had found a good job, and was well on her way to getting settled into an apartment. She never told us of how scared she was at night of the noises in and around that new apartment, or how dramatic the elements of her new life were playing out to a scenario of exploitation by the people around her. She just kept believing that there was good in the world, and hiding her hurt, and pretending things were great. Well they weren't, but there was a good guy on the horizon. Her knight in shining armor, handsome as any fairy tale prince could possibly be, and ready to defend her against the evils of this world. And he did.
I will never forget the first time I saw his face. The two of them had escaped to Florida to live for a while, and like many young men, this dashing X Navy shipman, drank too much. A lonely Florida apartment in Cocoa Beach proved to be way too lonely for my sister, and the dynamics of their new relationship, with the love of her life spending too much time with his drink, almost ruined everything. He had saved her, but now he was not saving himself.
My sister never spoke much of the details of that time, but I am sure she wondered how she ended up getting out of the fire but into the frying pan, and decided she had enough to come back home. But our brave knight who had rescued her, realized his prize was worthy of love, and he returned with her to Charlotte to become her forever love. Parting their youthful mistakes, they found a nice little place to live and she invited me over to meet him. I had no idea what he looked like, and my expectations were of someone similiar to the boys she had gone biking with in earlier years.
She was taking a bath when I arrived early, her familiar Tigress Cologne wafting through the air. I was first amused that her kitten was also taking a bath. Whose cat likes a bath? In fact I was so amazed I almost forgot about meeting her special man. As I turned from the room to go out to the living room to wait while she dressed, I faced a huge poster on the hall wall, that I had completely missed coming down the hall. On it were three amazingly handsome men, and I jested, "you better take take this poster down before he gets here. He is liable to be jealous of you having giant pictures of handsome men hanging all out in the open. Ha ha." "He's one of them," she called back. " "Well I am sure he is handsome, but don't you think he might like a picture of him hanging instead." "It is him. Well one of them is. He and a couple of buddies had that made." I suddenly became scared to meet him. These men needed to be in a magazine somewhere. That poster would have sold a million copies too. Wow. Wow was all I could think.
Then I realized I couldn't imagine which one he was. "Which one?" Of course he was the best of the three. I suddenly was afraid I would act like a blooming idiot in front of my sister's new man. I was star struck. "He won't look so good when he gets home from work, he will be covered in concrete." She was so kind to not be smug and take advantage of the obvious amazement in my voice. Not that she didn't merit such a man, but we both knew he looked like a movie star. Instead she was excited for me to meet him, because she truly loved him.
"Where does work?" "He is on the construction crew that is building the nuclear plant." "Nuclear plant?" "Yeah, you know, to make electricity." Yeah, I knew what a nuclear plant was, but I had been in such a small world being pregnant with three babies one right after the other, that I didn't even know they were building a nuclear power plant. Until this day, every time a see a macho poster of construction workers, I think of how my new brother in law was on the best one I ever saw.
Now he is gone to be with Jesus, and all I can think of is how that wasn't so long ago...
Even though he half adopted my kids and treated them as his own, and years of his big heartedness have past, I can only see it as yesterday. He always spoiled my children so badly, that I had to discipline them for a week after they got home when they went to visit in the summer. I sometimes couldn't get them back once he took them off to wonderland. Their summers were full of delights that no one else in the world would have allowed. My sister's hilarity allowed her husband to get in the middle of the wildest of kid friendly plans. Food fights, with a hundred dollar's worth of food. Fireworks over the fishing pond, enough to make the pros jealous. Fishing, swimming, and gaming into the deep of the night and early morning. Costumes, and decorations, and jobs. He gave them jobs and paid them money to work! And then he let them spend it! How could parents compete with all that?
Unique in this world, beyond description, it leaves a huge hole in time and space to have him slip into the realm beyond. But all I can say is look out Heaven, here he comes! I wonder if they are having so much fun!!!! Oh God, we will miss him down here!!!!!!!!!!
Love always, Good Bye, until we meet again beloved friend.
"God my sister needs you today. Please be near her......I have no words. All I can think of is the first time I saw his face. It was only yesterday.......OH LORD, help us to live with out him."
To my readers. please forgive my typos etc. I can't read this through my tears....
No comments:
Post a Comment