Post by Dani on Mar 2, 2011 20:46:34 GMT -5
“You never know how things will turn out…..”
Growing up, my mother would often say that to me, usually whenever something bad would happen. I never took her statement that seriously, always assuming it was just some random thing she said to make me shut up.
However, as my life progressed, I came to learn that my mother was right, just as she was infuriatingly right about everything else that pertained to my life.
When I ran away to New York City years ago, I thought I would be a famous writer with a column in the New York Times. I didn’t know that I would wind up pregnant within months of arriving.
When I married Frank, my first husband, I thought that it would last forever. I didn’t know that forever ended as soon as Alexia was born.
When I moved out of the city with four small kids in tow, I thought that it would be the start of a whole new beginning. I didn’t know that our house would get hit by a tornado a year later.
When I married Jake, I thought again that it would last forever.
And well, you know how that turned out….
When I was sitting in my mansion on Empress Road drinking tea a few weeks ago, I thought that it would be the house that my future grandchildren would come and visit.
Boy, was I wrong.
Not too long after I had that thought, the house and almost everything in it was completely gone. Having had a little warning about the forthcoming hurricane, we were able to grab a few things before taking shelter in the basement. As a result, things such as family photo albums, my computer disks, Lucas’s art supplies, Alexia’s guitar, and about ten of Kylie’s outfits were spared in the disaster. Also, everything that we kept in the basement family room was saved, including our kids’ various sports awards, an entertainment center, and a pool table. Sadly, several other things were not so lucky, such as the other two stories of our house and every single car that was parked in the driveway.
Not only was our home was destroyed, but everything that I had come to know for over ten years was destroyed as well. Places like the coffee shop where I used to hang out with my friends, the beach where I had gotten married, the hospital where I had given birth to my youngest child, and the high school where I had watched my oldest child walk across the stage and receive a diploma were all a distant memory. Mabtown, the town that I thought I’d spend the rest of my life in, had now been rendered unlivable.
So after spending a week staying with my ex-husband, his wife, and their family (which was just about as stressful as the hurricane) and leaving Brandie, Cori, and JJ behind to stay with them, the rest of us packed up the little bit that we had and headed to the faraway town of Riverside to start anew. I thought that the change of scenery would eventually boost everyone’s spirits.
Again I was wrong.
Well, I was somewhat wrong. Sammy and Molly were feeling much better, thanks to a random stop for ice cream, and were now running sugar-high laps around our brand new living room. Morgan, being simply a child at heart and also feeling the after effects of sugar, happily joined in with them. The rest of the kids just hung back, not sure what to make of their new surroundings. “Isn’t this place fantastic?” I asked, running after Molly and scooping her up. “I always wanted to live in a beach house.”
“So let me get this straight,” Alexia said, rolling her eyes. “We somehow manage to escape a hurricane, nearly getting killed in the process, and you move us to a house where we can easily get swept away at the next tidal wave?”
My daughter, the eternal optimist.
“Yeah, but it’s a beach house!” I exclaimed happily, trying to ignore her obvious logic. “We’re going to have so much fun here. I mean, they have a diner in town. A diner! We can have waffles all day!”
Chynna’s ears perked up. “Can I have pancakes too?” she asked, a smile starting to form across her face. I smiled back, relieved that I’d managed to convert one of my kids into a believer. “Sure you can! You can have them for dinner tonight if you want. And tomorrow morning, you get to go to the same school as your big brothers and sisters.”
Kylie looked as though she were about to pass out. “Excuse me! Why am I like just hearing this now?” I sighed and placed Molly in her playpen. “Kylie, you’ve been crying for the past week. Hearing about the junior high and the high school being in the same building would only add to your misery.”
“Well can you blame me?” she asked. “My senior year is like so totally ruined right now! My friends are all gone, I can’t cheer anymore, I can’t be senior prom queen, I hardly have anything to wear, my car’s in like a gazillion pieces somewhere, the guy I love is…..” As soon as the last few words left her mouth, she quickly gasped and froze, looking as though she had just confessed to manslaughter.
“You’re seeing someone?” I asked, shocked that I was just now learning this juicy bit of information. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Alexia threw her head back and laughed wickedly. “Oh please, knowing Kylie’s track record, the guy probably either skipped town or dropped dead.”
Of course this statement immediately caused Kylie to burst into tears. “Alexia Gabrielle Howard!” I exclaimed. “How could you say such a horrible thing?” Alexia shook her head and rolled her eyes. “It may be horrible, but it’s a well-known fact that this family is cursed.”
As the room fell into confused silence, Alexia continued. “Our family is cursed. Just look at everybody. Both of your husbands left you, Miki left Jack, Brandie lost Kaden, Nick can’t get a girlfriend to save his life, everyone Kylie dates vanishes into thin air, Lucas and Lila are no more, Sophie’s boyfriend probably already left her for some empty-headed sorority bimbo that he met down at school, and Rhett’s now six feet under because of some girl. Need I say more?”
A sad expression crossed my face at the loss of my young cousin Rhett, the boy whom I had grown to love like a son. “Rhett died because he was trying to protect Catherine. Their souls will be reunited in heaven. I’m sure of it.”
Alexia scoffed. “Yeah, but if he had of just stayed his ass at our house instead running over to the Richards’ like some stupid love-struck Romeo, he would still be here right now.”
Sophie cleared her throat. “For your information, I’m not cursed at all. Chris and I just decided to take a break from our relationship,” she said confidently, ignoring Alexia’s taunting laughter. “And by the way, Lucas isn’t cursed either. He has a new girlfriend. I saw them down at Holiday Hall dancing together. They’re so cute!”
Morgan, amused by this revelation, grabbed Sammy and began dancing around the room. “Lucas has a girlfriend! Lucas has a girlfriend!” she sang merrily. Lucas quickly covered his reddened face with his hands. “Uh, she’s not really my girlfriend….she’s just this girl….”
“I’m not cursed either,” Nick put in. “I have a date with Katie.” A curious look crossed Alexia’s face. “Really?” she asked, “Katie who?”
Nick rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “I, uh, never got her last name. She used to live on University, I know that much.” Alexia walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Awwww poor Nick,” she said sarcastically, “Why don’t we go back to University Avenue and find her house? Oh wait, that’s right, it’s a pile of rubble.”
Panic immediately crossed Nick’s face. “She gave me her phone number. I had it here somewhere. I know I did….I….” He immediately began dumping the contents of his wallet out on the coffee table. Alexia started laughing again. “My siblings are such suckers,” she said.
Perhaps, I left the wrong kid with my ex-husband.
After a nice dinner of pancakes and several hours of listening to Alexia’s lovely theories on life, love, and everything in between, all of the kids were sleeping peacefully in their beds. It was quite the feat. Back when the house on Empress Road was being remodeled to fit our newly expanded family, I made the decision to give all of the older kids their own bedrooms and bedrooms. It cost a lot, but it was worth it in the end. I figured that with most of them going through puberty around the same time, it would cut down on possible fights.
Tonight, that decision came back to bite me in the ass.
Our new home has seven bedrooms. One is my room and one is a guest room for when my other kids come to visit, which leaves five bedrooms. There are currently twelve kids in the house right now. You do the math.
Anyways, after a long trying hour to make sure that everyone was matched up with a roommate that they were at least halfway satisfied, I curled up in a chair with a nice cup of tea. I was calm for about five minutes, only to be disturbed by a sudden knock on the door. What I saw on the other side caused me to nearly faint.
“Mom?” There standing in the shadows, with about fifty pink pieces of luggage in his arms, was my firstborn child. “Jack?” I asked, unable to believe my eyes. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at school? And since when do you carry pink luggage?”
Jack, ever the resourceful one, answered all of my questions right away. “I came to see if you were alright. I dropped out of school. And this isn’t mine, it belongs to her.” He gestured over his shoulder to the brown hair girl slowly making her way up the walkway. “Geez, come on Bekah! You should know by now that my mom doesn’t bite.”
“Hi Ms. Dani,” Bekah said, following Jack inside the house. “Bet you’re surprised to see me here.” I smiled and gave her a hug.
“Yeah, but some surprises are nice ones,” I said. “You never know how things will turn out.”
Bekah smiled back at me and nodded. “Yeah, I guess you really don’t.”
Growing up, my mother would often say that to me, usually whenever something bad would happen. I never took her statement that seriously, always assuming it was just some random thing she said to make me shut up.
However, as my life progressed, I came to learn that my mother was right, just as she was infuriatingly right about everything else that pertained to my life.
When I ran away to New York City years ago, I thought I would be a famous writer with a column in the New York Times. I didn’t know that I would wind up pregnant within months of arriving.
When I married Frank, my first husband, I thought that it would last forever. I didn’t know that forever ended as soon as Alexia was born.
When I moved out of the city with four small kids in tow, I thought that it would be the start of a whole new beginning. I didn’t know that our house would get hit by a tornado a year later.
When I married Jake, I thought again that it would last forever.
And well, you know how that turned out….
When I was sitting in my mansion on Empress Road drinking tea a few weeks ago, I thought that it would be the house that my future grandchildren would come and visit.
Boy, was I wrong.
Not too long after I had that thought, the house and almost everything in it was completely gone. Having had a little warning about the forthcoming hurricane, we were able to grab a few things before taking shelter in the basement. As a result, things such as family photo albums, my computer disks, Lucas’s art supplies, Alexia’s guitar, and about ten of Kylie’s outfits were spared in the disaster. Also, everything that we kept in the basement family room was saved, including our kids’ various sports awards, an entertainment center, and a pool table. Sadly, several other things were not so lucky, such as the other two stories of our house and every single car that was parked in the driveway.
Not only was our home was destroyed, but everything that I had come to know for over ten years was destroyed as well. Places like the coffee shop where I used to hang out with my friends, the beach where I had gotten married, the hospital where I had given birth to my youngest child, and the high school where I had watched my oldest child walk across the stage and receive a diploma were all a distant memory. Mabtown, the town that I thought I’d spend the rest of my life in, had now been rendered unlivable.
So after spending a week staying with my ex-husband, his wife, and their family (which was just about as stressful as the hurricane) and leaving Brandie, Cori, and JJ behind to stay with them, the rest of us packed up the little bit that we had and headed to the faraway town of Riverside to start anew. I thought that the change of scenery would eventually boost everyone’s spirits.
Again I was wrong.
Well, I was somewhat wrong. Sammy and Molly were feeling much better, thanks to a random stop for ice cream, and were now running sugar-high laps around our brand new living room. Morgan, being simply a child at heart and also feeling the after effects of sugar, happily joined in with them. The rest of the kids just hung back, not sure what to make of their new surroundings. “Isn’t this place fantastic?” I asked, running after Molly and scooping her up. “I always wanted to live in a beach house.”
“So let me get this straight,” Alexia said, rolling her eyes. “We somehow manage to escape a hurricane, nearly getting killed in the process, and you move us to a house where we can easily get swept away at the next tidal wave?”
My daughter, the eternal optimist.
“Yeah, but it’s a beach house!” I exclaimed happily, trying to ignore her obvious logic. “We’re going to have so much fun here. I mean, they have a diner in town. A diner! We can have waffles all day!”
Chynna’s ears perked up. “Can I have pancakes too?” she asked, a smile starting to form across her face. I smiled back, relieved that I’d managed to convert one of my kids into a believer. “Sure you can! You can have them for dinner tonight if you want. And tomorrow morning, you get to go to the same school as your big brothers and sisters.”
Kylie looked as though she were about to pass out. “Excuse me! Why am I like just hearing this now?” I sighed and placed Molly in her playpen. “Kylie, you’ve been crying for the past week. Hearing about the junior high and the high school being in the same building would only add to your misery.”
“Well can you blame me?” she asked. “My senior year is like so totally ruined right now! My friends are all gone, I can’t cheer anymore, I can’t be senior prom queen, I hardly have anything to wear, my car’s in like a gazillion pieces somewhere, the guy I love is…..” As soon as the last few words left her mouth, she quickly gasped and froze, looking as though she had just confessed to manslaughter.
“You’re seeing someone?” I asked, shocked that I was just now learning this juicy bit of information. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Alexia threw her head back and laughed wickedly. “Oh please, knowing Kylie’s track record, the guy probably either skipped town or dropped dead.”
Of course this statement immediately caused Kylie to burst into tears. “Alexia Gabrielle Howard!” I exclaimed. “How could you say such a horrible thing?” Alexia shook her head and rolled her eyes. “It may be horrible, but it’s a well-known fact that this family is cursed.”
As the room fell into confused silence, Alexia continued. “Our family is cursed. Just look at everybody. Both of your husbands left you, Miki left Jack, Brandie lost Kaden, Nick can’t get a girlfriend to save his life, everyone Kylie dates vanishes into thin air, Lucas and Lila are no more, Sophie’s boyfriend probably already left her for some empty-headed sorority bimbo that he met down at school, and Rhett’s now six feet under because of some girl. Need I say more?”
A sad expression crossed my face at the loss of my young cousin Rhett, the boy whom I had grown to love like a son. “Rhett died because he was trying to protect Catherine. Their souls will be reunited in heaven. I’m sure of it.”
Alexia scoffed. “Yeah, but if he had of just stayed his ass at our house instead running over to the Richards’ like some stupid love-struck Romeo, he would still be here right now.”
Sophie cleared her throat. “For your information, I’m not cursed at all. Chris and I just decided to take a break from our relationship,” she said confidently, ignoring Alexia’s taunting laughter. “And by the way, Lucas isn’t cursed either. He has a new girlfriend. I saw them down at Holiday Hall dancing together. They’re so cute!”
Morgan, amused by this revelation, grabbed Sammy and began dancing around the room. “Lucas has a girlfriend! Lucas has a girlfriend!” she sang merrily. Lucas quickly covered his reddened face with his hands. “Uh, she’s not really my girlfriend….she’s just this girl….”
“I’m not cursed either,” Nick put in. “I have a date with Katie.” A curious look crossed Alexia’s face. “Really?” she asked, “Katie who?”
Nick rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “I, uh, never got her last name. She used to live on University, I know that much.” Alexia walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Awwww poor Nick,” she said sarcastically, “Why don’t we go back to University Avenue and find her house? Oh wait, that’s right, it’s a pile of rubble.”
Panic immediately crossed Nick’s face. “She gave me her phone number. I had it here somewhere. I know I did….I….” He immediately began dumping the contents of his wallet out on the coffee table. Alexia started laughing again. “My siblings are such suckers,” she said.
Perhaps, I left the wrong kid with my ex-husband.
~*~
After a nice dinner of pancakes and several hours of listening to Alexia’s lovely theories on life, love, and everything in between, all of the kids were sleeping peacefully in their beds. It was quite the feat. Back when the house on Empress Road was being remodeled to fit our newly expanded family, I made the decision to give all of the older kids their own bedrooms and bedrooms. It cost a lot, but it was worth it in the end. I figured that with most of them going through puberty around the same time, it would cut down on possible fights.
Tonight, that decision came back to bite me in the ass.
Our new home has seven bedrooms. One is my room and one is a guest room for when my other kids come to visit, which leaves five bedrooms. There are currently twelve kids in the house right now. You do the math.
Anyways, after a long trying hour to make sure that everyone was matched up with a roommate that they were at least halfway satisfied, I curled up in a chair with a nice cup of tea. I was calm for about five minutes, only to be disturbed by a sudden knock on the door. What I saw on the other side caused me to nearly faint.
“Mom?” There standing in the shadows, with about fifty pink pieces of luggage in his arms, was my firstborn child. “Jack?” I asked, unable to believe my eyes. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at school? And since when do you carry pink luggage?”
Jack, ever the resourceful one, answered all of my questions right away. “I came to see if you were alright. I dropped out of school. And this isn’t mine, it belongs to her.” He gestured over his shoulder to the brown hair girl slowly making her way up the walkway. “Geez, come on Bekah! You should know by now that my mom doesn’t bite.”
“Hi Ms. Dani,” Bekah said, following Jack inside the house. “Bet you’re surprised to see me here.” I smiled and gave her a hug.
“Yeah, but some surprises are nice ones,” I said. “You never know how things will turn out.”
Bekah smiled back at me and nodded. “Yeah, I guess you really don’t.”
