“My brother would do the recon. Sneak down the hall, hide behind the china hutch, peek around the kitchen door until he had an unobstructed view. No cake? Life went on. Yes cake? He’d army crawl back to my room with fear and panic on his face, and squeak out the word, ‘caaaakkkkeeee!'”
“He walked in and had that look on his face. Where you know you’re in trouble, but you don’t know why. He’s waiting for you to say something and you’re racking your brain about what you should admit to. He found the evidence. ‘A-ha!’ My jaw dropped when I saw it.”
“My husband gently tried to convince me everything would be alright. After six or seven ‘let’s just go’ statements, with me standing at the door, arms crossed, shaking my head in defiance, he finally lost it. ‘Will somebody just get this woman a tampon and a cracker?’”
“What I didn’t expect was a visit from the fire crew that was on scene and who, like true heroes, tried to save that baby’s life. They came in together, stood before me and asked if we could all share a hug.”
“I didn’t know what happened, but I knew something was wrong. She buried her head into my neck sobbing. ‘Outside.’ All the color drained from my husband’s face as he stood next to a ladder on the front porch, holding something in his hand.”
“I gave him the coy smile, in an attempt to be sexy. I probably tried to wink at him, and did my best to slither over to the bed. One long stride in front of the other, knocking my hips from left to right, hoping to look like Marilyn Monroe but most likely – didn’t. He slowly sat down next to me.”
“Without hesitation, he respectfully stood before that man who came 50 years before him, and told him he could rest easy, and that his generation would take it from there. All those sleepless nights, all the tears — magically disappeared. It suddenly became worth it.”
“I followed him. Oh yes, I waddled after him, appalled he would give me his ring, even though I demanded it. By the time I caught up to him, he was already in his car. So, I did the next most non-reasonable thing I could think of. I THREW it.”
“What you see in this picture, and what I see in this picture, are two very different things. You might see a little girl in a hotel room, preparing for a gymnastics meet in Las Vegas, looking out on the world from her hotel room. But, I see something different.”
“He shot back with a look on his face I had never seen before. Fear, maybe. Shock. Panic. Oh God, what was it? The blood left his face. He was pale. Almost confused.”
