More of that.
Wedding planning didn’t go exactly as planned, and I for one never thought I’d grow so passionate about different types of frosting, but alas. Don’t even get me started on seating charts.
That was what I learned to love about life, though. It had its ups and downs. For a long time, I fought against the downs, but then I realized how much more appreciation I had for the ups. The good days felt brighter after coming out of the cave of darkness. It was almost as if you bathed in the light with much more gratefulness because you almost lost yourself to the shadows. You thought you’d never see the light again, so when it appeared, you surrendered to it fully.
Same with the down moments. I realized the trick to defeating the downs was to make peace with your sadness, knowing that that feeling, too, wouldn’t last forever. Even with all the good in my life, I still had bad days. I had days when I struggled to get out of bed. I had nights where it was hard to breathe. So instead of belittling my sadness, I sat with her. I had coffee with her and allowed her to grieve whatever was aching her soul. Because I learned that I didn’t need to be hard on myself when I was low. If anything, I just wanted to comfort myself with the love and comfort I always gave to others.
That was what life was about: the ups and the downs. The zigs and the zags. It was about getting up each day and trying again one more time. Because, that one more time could easily lead to the greatest of happy endings. I’m so grateful the me I used to be never succeeded at the attempts we made at our life. I’m glad she failed at bringing us to an end. Because without that failure, I wouldn’t have lived the best days of my life. And you know what? There were still some best days ofmy life that I hadn’t even met yet. That thought kept me happy. That thought kept me hopeful.
That thought kept me alive. Because I was determined to discover more of those best days. And I knew it was a privilege to be able to do so with the loved ones I had in my corner. Both birth family and found family. Both my beginnings and my endings.
And most importantly, my husband Ash.
Husband.I still wasn’t used to that word, but I guess I had the rest of forever to grow accustomed to saying it. I loved the life we were building, and I couldn’t wait to see what else we’d create. The amount of love we would share.
That night, after we got home, Ash drew me a bubble bath and poured us two glasses of champagne. I climbed into the bath, wanting nothing more than to soak away some of the aches in my body. Truthfully, I hardly noticed my aches, seeing as how my heart was so happy.
Ash sat on the bathroom floor across from me as we sipped our champagne.
“I was thinking... the family room doesn’t get much use here. Maybe we can host a few game nights where we invite everyone to come over,” Ash mentioned. “We could have Saturday game nights and Spaghetti Mondays as our traditions.”
I smiled. “We can do that forever, if you’d like.”
“I love you, Karla Banks,” he told me, using my new last name that matched his.
“I love you, too.”
We continued to talk for a while, drinking a whole bottle of champagne as we debriefed about the wedding. Then after I grew a little tired, I relaxed more into the water. I felt my pain slowly leaving as I stared at the man who meant the world to me.
Then Ash picked up a novel, and he began to read.
After the bath, he helped me out of the tub, dried me off, and we crawled into bed after putting on our pajamas. At the foot of the bed, Rolls and Royce cuddled up with one another. When the two cats first met, they weren’t too keen on one another, but over time, their love blossomed. Now they were the best of friends.
I snuggled against Ash’s body, and he held me close to his heartbeat.
“Karla?”
“Yes?”
“Can we do this forever, too?” he whispered, placing a gentle kiss against my forehead. “Can we always be this happy?”
“Absolutely,” I breathed out as my eyes began to shut, and sleep began to overtake me.
“Swear?”
“Yes.” I snuggled into the nape of his neck and let out a soft sigh. “Swear.”
Ash
Ten Months Later
“That’s not fair! He cheated!” Lorelai shouted as she stood from the couch in the family room and pointed a stern finger toward Adrian, who’d just beat her in yet another round of Jenga.
Adrian tossed his hands up in surrender. “It’s not my fault that you made the stack fall, Lorelai. Who’s next to go against the undefeated Jenga master?”
I was still a bit amazed at how our game nights had turned out. Each week, Karla and I hosted our friends and family at our home to play board games. All my friends would always come, along with Karla’s friends—who had become good friends of mine, too.
Maa and Karla’s family came over, too. Ellie and Maa would cook together in the kitchen while everyone else sat in the family room making enough noise to wake the dead.
