TIME STAMP: 1:34 AM
"Mom, wake up Dad, there's someone in the garage!"
And...I'm awake. And there stands my daughter in her pj's with the light from the hallway spilling into my bedroom. Behind her I see her 24-year-old, 6'3" fiancee', she follows my eyes and goes on to explain that she called Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Handsome as he was on his way home to drive back to our house and check the garage because she heard someone shaking the door--trying to gain entrance to our house.
I reach my hand toward my husband to wake him, and I see my daughter's handsome fiancee' is making his way towards the garage. Near the door to the garage, is my son's room. The "shaking door" is not actually the garage door, but the door into his bedroom. It turns out that my son, (who we will henceforth refer to as Mr. PETA) has taken one of the felines that graces our home into his room as he went to bed, and now the cat is trying to open the door and get out. So, Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Handsome opens the door and lets Maddie the Cat out of her bedroom prison. He then checks the garage, where he sees the other two animals sleeping peacefully on a large red pillow.
Cat tossed outside, fiancee' to his car, lights distinguished, and doors locked.
And...I'm awake, thinking about things to come. My mind is playing through what just took place and to me it is speaking volumes. You see, some may hear this story and think "Your daughter called her boyfriend back to the house just to let the cat out for the night!?!" But I see it a little differently.
I used to listen to Dr. Laura on talk radio and I remember that she used to tell women that they should find a man who would "swim through shark infested waters to bring her lemonade". I can confidently say that my daughter has found that in this young man. He loves her. He loves her with a passion, a protective nature yet a playful attitude.
This morning the Bride-to-Be and I took a walk, during which the conversation drifted around to her brothers, and what their future may hold. I couldn't help but tell her that I hoped that one day, each of my boys would love someone as passionately as Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Handsome loves her. To love someone so intensely is truly a gift and it requires the ability to trust wholeheartedly.
The Bride-to-Be and Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Handsome will assuredly have obstacles that they must overcome. They will have trials to face, that no one can predict, and some that many of us older people can already see coming. But, they will draw from the examples they've had and truths that they've learned and they will be stronger for the wear. The small steps that they are taking, even now while they live separately, will help them in the future when the problems cannot simply be solved by opening a door.
