I look back at my family once more, and this time they don’t give the waves and high fives to Jaxon, but to me instead. Why? No reason other than they love me, which is the best reason of them all.
I wave back, seeing my wife with the pumpkin spiced latte she loves to drink this time of year. When we get home later we’ll carve up a pumpkin or ten, try on the homemade Halloween outfits and then go out trick-or-treating, just like every year.
October 31stwill always be the most special day of the year for us. It’s the day this life kicked off and jump-started my life in a way I never even dreamed of.
Speaking of dreams, Juniper’s mother-in-law seems to be living out her dream down here as well. She’s dating a guy who loves to sail around the Cape of Good Hope, which is shocking to me. It’s a dangerous sail, but Sue has come to love it, giving up on those limp-wristed rich guys for a real man’s man, a man who’s become a friend of mine.
But my best friend will always be her. My one and only. The only man she’s ever known, and the only woman I’ve ever loved. Because she taught me what love was all about…moments like these. Holidays together.
Halloween is known for the colors black and orange, but when I think of her I often think of silver…as in the silver lining after what her stepfather did to me.
I’m not angry anymore, because the thorn of that experience led me to the one-of-a-kind rose I have now…and will forever more.
My life. My love. My everything.
“Look Dad!” my boy says, taking advantage of the strong gusts of wind to fly back past me.
Oh, I’m looking all right. Looking forward to tonight when we’re dressed up and his mother and I have a little ghoulish fun. Looking forward to where it could lead us. Where I know it’s going to go.
Another child. Another baby this time next year. I can’t stop when it comes to her and our family. It will never be big enough, no matter how hard I try, no matter how much I want to get to ten kids or more.
Because that’s what life is truly about. Family first. Always.
“Look, Dad!” Jaxon calls out again as a gust whips him past me.
Oh, I’m looking son, so much so that my eyes are getting dry because I don’t dare blink, and miss a moment of this life that I’m sure has made me the luckiest man ever to walk the face of this earth.
Because of her.
My Halloween treat every day, and night, of the year. Forever.
The End.