Thank You Caroline

I left for Pittsburgh on Wednesday, July 7, 2010. I believed that day to be the hardest day of my 28 year old life. That was the day that I cried the ugly cry in front of the man I love M.J Kracken. Saying goodbye to M.J was harder than saying goodbye to my best friend Just B as well as my cat Mr. Knightly (my cat's name is the only name in my blog that will/has not been changed for anonymity reasons). Don't be fooled by my words, saying goodbye to my friends Sur, Nickelback, Deaf til 6 and Broseph was extremely hard and painful, but saying goodbye to M.J broke my heart. I haven't cried that much since I watched the movie Charly with Sur. It was awful, the movie and the crying.

My mom and I drove until we reached Laramie, Wyoming which seemed only right because 99.7% of my friends are gay and Laramie is known for it's love and respect for my homosexual peeps. I thought that I would just pass out on my motel bed from such an emotionally exhaustive day but instead I celebrated being in Laramie by watching 2 episodes of Sex and the City. It was like God was telling me that it was going to be ok in Laramie and Pittsburgh because no matter where I went the memories of my friends, like the reruns of my favorite show, would always be with me. I fell asleep grateful that night.

The next morning my mom woke me up so that I could get some free continental breakfast with her. I was looking forward to a whole lot of nothing with a heaping side of I can't eat that because I'm lactose intolerant; however, I was pleasantly surprised when I eyeballed the waffle maker. An elderly woman was making a waffle so I took my seat at table to wait patiently for my turn. My mother took my actions as her call to action. She became my personal waitress, bringing me my paper plate, plastic utensils and a styrofoam cup filled with "orange juice". My thank yous for my mother's kind actions were dimmed by the elderly man sitting at the table in front of me.
His base voice filling the room with every "THANK YOU CAROLINE" he uttered.

His wife brought him some juice and placed it in his hand and he bellowed, "THANK YOU CAROLINE". The cup fell from his hand splashing to the floor and she quickly said, "it's fine I'll clean it up and get you another one." "THANK YOU CAROLINE" was his response. You might think that this would be humorous, it might have been a little at the beginning, but the entire scene that was in play before me was actually quite touching. This woman was serving her husband, and it wasn't because she felt it was her duty or obligation, it was because she loved him and he loved her. It was the most beautiful, ok the only beautiful view I had in Laramie.

The woman was quick to explain to my mother that her wonderful husband had suffered two strokes during the past year and now he was going blind. She told us how hard it was to take care of him, but how she didn't mind because she loved him and he was a good man and was always good to her. While she was in the midst of telling her story and taking care to cut her husbands food and tell him where it was on the plate my waffle had been brought to me and another one put on the hot iron. By the time her story was over my mom presented this gracious woman with a waffle. That tiny act of service was not lost on this woman who needed that ever so minor break of serving others and herself. I was only able to stare at my mother with amazement at how at the age of 28 she is still able to set such a loving example for me. My mother's heart is so big that it gave me hope that even though my heart was broken, hopefully when it begins to mend again it will be bigger and stronger and even more generous and loving than it was before. I left Laramie with optimism and hope, that is until I read the sign that Omaha was over 500 miles away.