Here are samplings from recent stories I have written for a wedding, an anniversary and a baby-to-be. Please know that each of these are just bits and pieces of the larger story, sampled here to give you an idea of what the stories are like as well as my writing style. Enjoy!
Allison and Quentin, Wedding December 2008
Almost two years exactly to the day of their first date, Quentin anxiously stood awaiting the first glimpse of his bride as she walked down the aisle on her father’s arm. “My friend Ryan got married last year and wept like a baby when he saw his bride walking down the aisle. I kept telling myself not to do the same for weeks before the wedding, but I ended up seeing her bright blue eyes and started balling.”
“I was crying too and my dad was really nervous,” said Allison. “But, right as my dad and I began our walk down the aisle, my dad slammed his shoulder into a door and I looked at him and asked, ‘Did you just slam into the door?’ He just looked at me and started laughing and I started laughing too. It broke the tension a little.”
But the laughter did not last long as Allison overheard her wedding planner say, “Oh, he just saw her.” Although she didn’t catch the look on Quentin’s face for that first glance, she met his eyes for the second and both of them started crying.
It was at a Halloween party where the two first met, Allison buzzing around talking to everyone dressed up as a bumblebee, and Quentin hanging out in board shorts and a hoodie after a day of surfing. The Queen Bee introduced herself to Quentin and his friends, chatted for a bit and then buzzed away.
It was a couple of weeks before the two encountered each other again at the local climbing gym. Allison, there with a friend, caught Quentin off guard by saying hello and remembering his name. “Hey Quentin.” He responded with, “Bumblebee?” “It’s Allison,” she said. And from that point on the two hit it off. So much so that Allison and her friend invited Quentin and his friends along on a climbing trip to Austin they were planning at the beginning of December.
“I couldn't believe it, he was the cute guy," Allison said. "I always end up with the mildly-awkward guy who is friends with the cute guy. Not this time."
Lynn and Dennis, 40th Anniversary
In a world adorned with bunny rabbits, rock bands and Jim Thompson prints, and infused with culture and knowledge, two daughters grew up experiencing the strong bond of family and witnessing the immense love between their parents. Years after childhood, the two sisters, Chris and Laura, reminisce about their parents and the amazing 40-year marriage that has proven unbreakable to this day. This is the story of two young people falling in love, raising two daughters, loving a beloved dog, living in multiple countries, becoming grandparents, and all the while adoring each other.
It was the late sixties when Lynne and Dennis first met on the college campus of Texas Christian University. Not unlike many college matches the two met in class, an International Relations class, where Dennis sat a few seats in front of Lynne and happened to catch her eye. What was different about this meeting though was the immediate connection that happened between the two resulting in phone conversations lasting for hours, and Dennis’ throwing of rocks against Lynne’s dorm room window pleading for her presence down on the sidewalk next to him. It is a fairytale story to say the least.
“Mind you, Mom was after a younger man. Dad is one year younger than Mom,” tells Laura.
Although, never is a fairytale perfect and Lynne and Dennis did experience some glitches along the way, most memorably on their first date. The date began with an SMU vs. TCU football game. Following the game the two headed back to the car to head off to dinner at Cattleman’s. However, the guy in the car parked next to Dennis and Lynne was parked so close that Dennis could not open the driver’s side door and therefore, had to get in the car on the passenger side and slide across. Now, mind you that back in the sixties Dennis dressed in his band-man-style wearing tight pants and pointy shoes, and as he was sliding across to the driver’s side his pants split. Obviously, he needed to change before going to dinner and luckily his parent’s house was situated in between the stadium and the restaurant, so he brought Lynne to his mother’s house so he could get a new pair of pants. And Lynne, unbeknownst to her, met, for the first time, her future mother-in-law.
Or how about the time over Christmas break when Lynne grabbed a ride home to Kansas City with Dennis and one of his friends? They were driving in the first SUV of its kind. It was December and so it was cold. Lynne had to sit up front in between Dennis and his friend, as the truck had no back seat. All of a sudden in the middle of nowhere, the truck ran out of gas. They had to walk in the cold for help finally finding a farmhouse where they threw rocks at the windows (good thing Dennis was already a pro at this) in order to wake up the owner to get some gas. Luckily, they were told there was a gas station about a mile down the road, so off they went for fuel.
“I can’t believe mom did that,” laughs Chris. “It totally makes me laugh!”
But, silly little glitches or no, the two were meant for each other and within a year of meeting they tied the knot in Lynne’s hometown, Kansas City, on September 20, 1968 at the Country Club Christian Church followed by a reception in Lynne’s mother’s backyard.
“Mom always said that they were young and in love and wanted to get out of Kansas City and explore the world,” recalls Laura. “They were young and poor and curious and they were excited to go through all of that together.”
Suzanne and Gribbin, Baby story written in letters to their unborn child
Since you are with me all the time we have gotten to know each other pretty well. I know that I will get kicked for a bit after drinking a glass of milk or eating a hot fudge sundae, and since you have been kicking me a lot, you have probably realized that I absolutely LOVE hot fudge sundaes. But I’m not the only one in the picture out here that cannot wait to meet you face-to-face, hold you and say hello. There are actually quite a few people anxious to do that, but the one most important is my other half, your daddy….so, who is your daddy?
Your daddy is the kind of guy who, when I was desperate for chocolate cake (which seems to be every day these days), came home from work with all the mixings for chocolate cupcakes. And, 40 minutes after he walked in the door I had a chocolate frosted cupcake sitting before me and I never lifted a finger. Mind you, your daddy doesn’t even like chocolate cupcakes. What a treat…both the cupcakes and your father.
Your daddy is the kind of guy that can sit and watch a Red Sox game with a beer in one hand, and his free hand atop my belly waiting for any movement from within so he can say hello. He pokes and prods you a lot and we are both waiting for the day that you surprise him with a big kick back…just remember that it is my stomach you have to get through to get to him.
Your daddy is the kind of guy that cooks me dinner every night and makes sure to use his cast iron cooking pans to help me keep up the iron in my system to help you grow. He never complains and always asks what I am craving. I sit on the counter while he cooks and we just talk. It’s one of my favorite times of the day. I can’t wait until you can join us.
Your daddy is the kind of guy that will sit at the computer and help me research diapers, bottles, stollers, towels and bouncy seats so that we can get everything we need without me getting overwhelmed.
Your daddy is the kind of guy that will take his entire weekend off, which is a rare thing, and spend it making your room extra special and perfect. He put in wood floors to start and is excited to get to painting, well, maybe I’m exaggerating on that one…I’m excited for him to get to painting. Regardless, your room will be all ready for you when you come home.
Your daddy is the kind of guy that is one of the only ones in his class to ace the OBGYN section on his EMT final exam. He is doing his homework, and I think a little personal research goes a long way.
Your daddy is the kind of guy that is reading all the daddy-to-be books to help him understand what’s going to happen next with you and figure out why his wife is freaking out on him about the smallest, stupidest things like “why are you turning off the bathroom light when I don’t want you to?” Don’t ask, I don’t even know the reason behind that one.
I could go on and on about all the wonderful things your daddy has done for us. If you take away just one thing from all these acts of kindness, know that he loves you so much already and would do anything for you. He cannot wait to meet you.
So now you can be a little more prepared about the other half of who you are stuck with once you get into this world….lucky baby…healthy, happy, loved.
Love,
Mommy and Daddy
