http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF84pIhP5UM
Love
By Alesha
© All Rights Reserved to Me, Alesha
3/23/08
Mike and I have been dating for three years now. I met Mike through a friend. Mike worked hard, something that I had always found attractive about him. He stood six feet five inches tall at my five feet four inch frame. He is a good looking man that every time I look at him I feel my heart doing the pitter patter where it than feels like it could jump out of my chest any moment. I have always felt since the day that I started dating him that I was the luckiest woman alive to have this man in my arms every night.
Than one day everything changed. Mike came up to me to tell me he had joined the Army. We never talked about either one of us joining the Army but the moment Mike stated, "I will be leaving tomorrow." That is when everything changed. I could not grasp what he was telling me. Mixed emotions ran through my body as if it was on fire. I was scared for him, scared for our relationship. Yet I felt that this needed to be done. As much as I love the women and men fighting for our country, I knew and felt that Mike would make the United States Proud.
Mike and I soon started to pack his things with very little spoken words. I could not bare myself when I stepped into the closet to grab the last duffel bag, as Mike was down stairs grabbing as many protein bars as he could. I was trying to tell myself that he was not going over seas just quite yet, but only going for training in another state. Yet it was all still a shock to me. This was the man I loved, the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
I tried to dry my eyes as quick as I could before Mike could see my tears. I was trying to be strong but I couldn’t, not today. Mike, I guess felt or heard me cry, because before I knew it I was wrapped up in his arms, crying those crocodile tears. I loved Mike and I felt it in him that he loved me too. We both stopped what we were doing, and decided that we needed to leave the house to either grab a bite to eat or go see friends and family to tell them the news. I was proud of him, but I hated to see him leave. We have always been attached at the hip.
Hours passed after visiting family and friends. Many more tears were shed. Everyone fawning over us, and worry about how I would be doing when he is gone. I realized I could visit him on weekends, talk to him but that was not the same, for he was not here. I wanted to be selfish, yet I couldn’t, not for Mike. He wanted this; he wanted to make his country proud. We come home to see the house in disarray, suit cases in every which way where we walked, I looked at Mike than, and sighed. He took my hand, as we walked up the stairs. Mike knew I was not taking it well. We both lay in our bed, I soon had fallen asleep but felt Mike getting out of bed. I could hear him packing the rest of his belongings. Having his presence felt in the room for the last night we will be together, was not comforting but it was comfort knowing he still loved me.
Many hours had passed; I soon looked to Mike’s side of the bed, and noticed he was not there. I walked down the twenty three stairs that led into the living room, and the kitchen. There on the couch I see Mike sitting folding up a letter that he must have written. I also see photo albums strewn about on the coffee table. I could not help but noticed that he too had been crying. Mike looked up where he was sitting, noticing me standing there, rooted at my spot. I quickly came over to sit next to him, trying to hold on, trying to get closer. I grabbed my photo album containing the pictures of us and a bunch of friends at a bon-fire on the beach of Cabo San Lucas.
"Remember the time when we went to Cabo. We had only been dating 6 months but it felt as though we had been dating a life time. Every one stated that we were the soul mates of a new generation where we would be the only couple married to each other when everyone else was either divorced or only dating." I stated while still looking at the pictures in front of me.
"I remember. Yet do you also remember when, at Cabo that was the night we shared our first kiss, and every one else was surprise. That our friends could not believe it, for both us wanted to make our relationship more special than the rest of the relationships we had in the past." As Mike remembered.
"I do remember. I will always remember." As the tears started to pour from my eyes one more time, I cried with the words I had spoken.
I saw Mike take out a couple of pictures that he wanted to bring with him when he left, some of my favorites. One of the pictures was me standing in front of him with his arms wrapped around me, looking out into the ocean watching the sunset going down. A great friend of ours took the picture. That was the moment watching the sunset when we shared our first kiss. Another was where I was sitting between his legs as I was smiling up at him he was looking into the camera smiling. As if it was the same picture since we both are sitting the same, this time it was him smiling down at me, yet I was still in the same pose of looking up at him smiling.
"Are you finished packing?" I asked.
"Yeah I am." Mike replied.
More unspoken words again, for we both did not know what to say except that we loved the presence of one another. Before we knew it, it was time to head up to bed for Mike had to get up early, and get everything loaded into the car, and be at the air port by eleven o’clock for his plane was destined to leave at one.
The following morning I laid in the bed watching Mike get ready. He sat on the bed. I just looked at him, and cried, "Don’t go. You can not go." Mike brushed away some of my hair.
"You know I have to do this, Jersey. I think we both have known for quite a while that I have wanted to do this. I love you, very much. Do not forget that." Mike comforted me as he spoke.
"I know its, its just hard. Ugh, I guess I just have to pick myself up, huh?" I asked.
"It is okay to be sad. We have been attached at the hip since we have been together. My love for you Jersey is not going to end, it never will." Mike confirmed to me
Mike soon leaned into me, kissing me softly. And yet the tears still fell. "I love you, Jersey."
"I love you, too Mike. Always have, always will." I stated in a monotone voice.
Mike leaned into me again, kissing me one last time before he got up. I too got up out of bed, heading down the twenty three stairs one more time. I saw Mike pulling out of the drive way in his black Jeep Cherokee. In a matter of a couple hours I too would be leaving, to pick up the Jeep and bringing it home where it would sit for months at a time. What will I do? I feel as though the love of my life has walked out. Yet I know he will be back. I turned away from the window walking to the kitchen and feeling as though I was lonely for the first time in a long time.
Humming to myself and having my back facing the window I once was looking out just a few moments ago. I soon heard the door open. I stood there rooted at my spot once again but this time a spatula in my hand. I turned around noticing, Mike standing at the door looking at me.
"I can not go Jersey. I can not. I have to call and tell them that I will not be coming. I love you to much to throw this relationship away. I know if I go our relationship will never be the same as it is right now." Mike rattled off quicker than I can pick up what he is saying.
"Slow down, Mike." I laughed.
"What I am trying to say is, Will You Jersey Elizabeth Ryan, Marry Me?" Mike asked while walking to me and holding me close.
"Yes, I will." I replied with tears.
So we stood there rooted to our spots but with each other, holding on. Mike made the call. He told them that he decided against this and he had better things to do. I know Mike will make our country proud but in a different way, not the Army way, like we thought he would, as did everyone else.
"Love is never lost. Love will never end. No matter whom you love, no matter what you do. You should always keep the ones you love closest to you, even if you have to give them up, to let them do what they are made to do. When you Love someone, you can not make the choices for them, they have to make the choices for themselves." Alesha 3/23/08
