Forever After

by C. J. English

  In our one-hour Valentine’s dinner over veggie burgers and beers, Grant and I covered a lot of ground. None of which was filled with romance or passion but somehow even among the topics of hairy bushes and helmet men, love is ever present between us. We just fit. It works, he and I, me and him. Being together is the easiest part of our messy lives. No matter where we are, together we are imperfectly perfect for one another.

  I don’t know what the future looks like for Grant and I because our lives seem to change quickly and not always in a predictable way. I do know that we are done having kids. Biological human ones anyway. And that up until three days ago we were only going to be a one dog family (shh . . . I still have to tell him about her. I plan to spike his beer with vodka so he’ll be a little loose for the conversation. I’ll let you know how it goes.)

  Grant will continue to be the carefree and funny father and husband he is, who will push us to do new safe and unsafe adventures while telling us all about random things we never imagined we’d ever want to know. Like the unusually large size of Albert Einstein’s corpus callosum, or at what rate the moon is slowly drifting away from the earth. He’ll keep singing to the little kids while they take a bath and to me at midnight when we escape into a world of our own. I wish he would venture into politics. He’s charming and persuasive, smart without corruption and greed. But since I’ve aired our dirty secrets to the world, that life may not be so well suited now. Instead, he’ll do good by modeling to our kids what a good husband and dad, gentleman and humanitarian is. I suspect he will also continue to amass useless receipts in that pile next to the toaster that will one-day rival the biomass of all the trees in the entire Amazon rainforest.

  He’ll also keep putting up with me.

  I will continue to immerse myself in things that are meaningful to me such as dog rescue, animal rights, and the evolution of our species to a more plant based diet. All the things an undeterred granola type must do to satisfy her soul. I hope to do more writing, reading, and speaking. Let’s not forget wine drinking, hot tub taking, maybe some husband pranking.

  This I know for sure. I have spent more years of my life not knowing if he and I would be together than years I’ve spent certain that we would. Today he is more my future than my past and if I’m lucky, one day he’ll be my past more than my future. All I want is to be with him. For us not to have not 10,000 more days together, but a million beyond infinity.

  Taken on the trip where I freaked out before we got engaged.

  Our wedding day.

  So many memories in this car.

  Always an adventure.

  Kona

  Kona and our new rescue dog Bella.(Grant’s not sold on keeping her, neither is Kona. But if I put her picture in this book I think it’ll help my cause.)

  Dylan

  Negril, Jamaica. Me and Dylan buried Grant in the sand.

  Dylan threatened to fart into the snorkel hole. I stopped him.

  Nikki & Dylan

  Grant & I

  The Lake.

  Grant & Dylan

  Family Life

  Dani & I, Junior prom.

  So that’s it—that’s my happily Forever After.

  I don’t know if fairy tale love exists for everyone.

  All I know is that it does for me.

  If you enjoyed Forever After, please consider

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  Thank you!

  C.J.

  CJEnglishAuthor.com