Our Story from Start to Beyond the Grave: (78) He’s back in Cali

November 2005

So many things to try to get accomplished on our time line. It is the day before the Wedding, a Friday. First Angie and her husband will be driving her car up to the Radisson Resort Hotel at Knotts Berry Farm and I will be caravanning behind them. We need to bring everything for the wedding with us. Tonight, we will be attending the Rehearsal Dinner at Acapulco’s Mexican Restaurant in Stanton. Once we are settled into the Hotel, I will be picking Jace*—- up at Long Beach Airport.

The Airport

Usually Jace*—- would fly into LAX, but because Long Beach Airport was closer to our destination, we chose for him to fly into it. If you are familiar with the airports around Los Angeles, Long Beach is a very small airport, more on the quaint side. Actually, as I think of it a lot like San Angelo or Wichita Falls Airports. As I drove up in front of the airport, there he was sitting at a picnic table, with his backpack and duffle bag. His plane had landed a bit early. It always made me nervous for Jace*—- to be “loose” in Los Angeles County. He’s my very friendly county boy and knows no boundaries or limits and well, there is all kinds in Los Angeles! One never knows who you might meet up with, fortunately everything seemed to be copasetic.

 We got my love into the car and we were on our way to the Hotel. He really liked the simplicity of the Long Beach Airport and mentioned that from here on out that he would be flying into Long Beach. I had brought along with me an ice chest on wheels for beverages. At the time, I thought for medical reasons Jace*—- was no longer drinking beer or any other alcohol beverages. He asked if he could set up the ice chest as he said, “it was his thing.” I didn’t have a problem with that, if it made him happy it made me happy. But what I would soon find out when he requested to make a stop at a 7 eleven was that he was once again drinking his favorite “Coors Light Beer.” No lecture here, as I am not that type of person. But I did have concerns for his tummy as he had been told he needed to stop drinking as he had been diagnosed with a bleeding ulcer a few months before.

We were now at the Hotel. Jace*—- took everything he had, the ice chest and anything else that was to go up to the room in one load. That’s my man. We got into the room and he started right to work on his ice chest. I must say it was very proficient how he stacked the beverages along with the ice. It was time to get ready for the Rehearsal Dinner and be on our way. We would meet Angie and Dan there. I must say I was a little nervous as I am sure probably Jace*—- was as well, although you would have never known it, nor did he say that he was at all. He was going to meet Dan’s parents and many people that he hadn’t meet before as well as a few family members. If you know Jace*—- everyone was his friend, at least at first. He was a very friendly and sociable person. He never met a stranger. As usual, think the movie “Beetlejuice”, it’s showtime only a much more pleasant guy. He was handling things very well and then we meet a teacher and friend of Dan’s mom. I suppose that she was being innocent when she said to us, “When will you be setting your wedding date?” I didn’t like this at all, as I felt it put Jace*—- on the spot and really, we hadn’t set a date. We had only spoke of getting married 2 times since that fateful night of his proposal. If you have read our blog from the beginning you will remember reading that neither of us had ever had any intention of ever getting married again. After 4 years together, I truly wanted to marry my Jace*—-. I never loved anyone like that before in my life, the connection was boundless. But, even if for some reasons he would have changed his mind, or got cold feet, I didn’t need that piece of paper to be with Jace*—- for eternity. So, he looked at me with those deer in the headlights eyes and I panicked. I replied, “We haven’t talked about marriage.” I excused us and walked to where the food was laid out. Subject was dropped for the rest of the evening. Everything else went well for the remainder of the dinner.

We were back at the Hotel where we decided to spend the evening in the room. The Wedding would take place in the afternoon of the next day. So, the rest of the evening was ours. Jace*—- and I were night owls, so the party had just begun. My drink at the time was White Russians. At this time, you could buy them in a 4 pack, which would be more than enough to get me intoxicated. So, television off, we started talking and laughing which was what we did most of the time when we were together. Somewhere along the evening, Jace*—- turned serious and mentioned that he was scared. I asked why and of what? He said, “Cindy, (he rarely ever called me by my given name), my all is invested in you. What if you move to Texas and you realize that you don’t want to be with me? You have someplace to go back to. People to go back to. I don’t. I realize now that what I had said about on date for the wedding had upset him and I guess may have given him cause to feel unsure of our fate. Jace*—- always wanted complete honesty from everyone. Hence, I had to reply that yes, I did have a place to go back to if that should happen, but I didn’t feel that it would nor did I want it to. Truly I couldn’t imagine the rest of my life without him in it. Everything that I looked forward to would be with him. To me we were one. One would always be with the other. As Jace*—- always did when we would get into a discussion, he would  bring it right back to the question. He was a master at debates, he owned the English language. We went around and around for a few times; each one I would try to reassure him that it was the farthest thing from my mind. We came to an impasse; I went to the ice chest to grab another White Russian. I started to open it and he took it from my hand. Normally if I had a beverage that had a twist off cap Jace*—- open it for me. I was mad now so I grabbed it back before he could open it. He took it back again. This went on for a few times, when I finally gave in and let him open it for me. I took a drink and looked at him and said, “Oooooo you make me so mad.” He looked at me with a big smile on his face, which quickly turned into laughter. He replied, “I know I shouldn’t laugh babe, but you are so darn cute when you are mad. Let’s not fight anymore.” I said, “I never want to fight with you love.” He took me into his arms and kissed me like only he could. How I would miss those kisses. I’m sure you know where that led us, right to the bed, where he made me one very happy girl. He was undoubtedly the best lover I ever had.

Next Angie’s Wedding.