Another conversation with Cal.E. Kat
d.: Cal.E., how did you get out of Ad. Seg.? You must be the feline version of Harry Houdini!
C.: Harry who now? I got out because the warden’s daughter wanted to take me out and play with me. It’s reasonable that she would like me. We are the same age.
d.: If you take the years you have been alive and multiply by the correct feline multiplier..
C.: WE’RE THE SAME AGE!!
d.: Okay, is this going to be a permanent arrangement?
C.: IDK. I will talk to Mom and Dad. I will see if they will sign my emancipation papers..
d.: Your mom and dad love you. They put you in this rehab facility for your own good!
C.: Yes, but all of Mom and dad’s kids are grown. I will have a playmate and a puppy to play with. He worships me now that I saved his life!
d.: You want to go stay at a house with a rambunctious puppy? Aren’t you a little “long in the tooth” for that, Cal.E.?
C.: Age is but a number. And your number is up! Here comes my salvation! Ta for now! I am going to play with the warden’s daughter!
And now, Chapter fourteen of “Beyond the Thirteenth Mile; The Iron Man Chronicles”
CHAPTER 14: A FREE WEEKEND IN MAY Run Course; Mile five. I will test my legs now, and see if I can run. That is not so bad. Maybe I can beat fourteen hours. That would be a good adjusted goal. It would mean that Seth would get to see me finish, too. That would be cool! We are beginning to get close. He would enjoy seeing that. It is a good thing that I started running again, I think. It probably discouraged Nicole from chasing after me when we were trying to set our wedding date. It was honestly the only time that would work for both of us, though. Nicole wanted to get married in October. Since I proposed in August, I just thought that was too soon. Christmas time would not work, since Nicole has a birthday around that time, and January is too cold, in both our opinions. After that, my work schedule is extremely busy for four months, and I wanted to try to keep training during that time as well. That only left one free weekend in May as the best choice in which to get married… **************************************************************** "I think I have a free weekend in May," I said, only half-jokingly, as Nicole and I sat and tried to figure out when to set our wedding date. (An aside to any females who may be reading this; I know that the bride usually gets to determine the date of her own wedding, but these were unusual circumstances. My schedule tends to be very busy early in the year but starts to slack off in May.) I knew the statement was a mistake before I ever said it, and I could definitely tell that it didn't sit well with Nicole. That one statement, however, seemed to sum up our lives at that time. Because of my work schedule, I even had to miss the funeral of one of my uncles, because his death occurred early in the year. For me to make it to the funeral would have required a great deal of travel, something that I didn't have time to do. After the spring, the triathlon and cycling and running season set in, and that lasts until late November. That only leaves one season, the winter. To me, the winter just isn't a good time to get married, even in south Texas, where the climate tends to be mild at that time of year. Looking over both of our schedules though, we decided that May did, indeed, seem to be the ideal month for us to get married. In southeast Texas, May is usually about the last month of the year that a couple can plan an outside wedding and expect for the guest not to be too uncomfortable in the heat, as long as the ceremony is scheduled before noon. Since we both wanted an outdoor wedding, this would be mandatory. We checked with our families to see which weekend would work best for the majority of the people planning to travel to the wedding. (Since my first wedding was rather clandestine, with only the justice of the peace and Ali, Patricia, and me in attendance, nobody in my family was about to miss this one, no matter how far they had to drive.) Our families confirmed that the last weekend in May, Memorial Day weekend, was, indeed, the most convenient for most of them-the exact date that I had chosen in the first place! If you believe in the power of numbers and dates, you can add to this particular date's favor that it was two days before my parent's wedding anniversary, their 45th. (I did, however, have to overrule Nicole’s decision for the date. She had picked the date that happened to be my last two girlfriends’ birthdays. Avoiding that date would have seemed to be easy, because they were both born on the same day {in the same year, oddly enough.} It was not. I convinced Nicole to change the date to the next day. She was very understanding, but a little disappointed.) It still disturbs me a little that, in a period of nine months, I could only find one weekend that was acceptable for one of the most important occasions in my life, and that one only worked because it was a holiday weekend. Sometimes I wonder what I would have done with the time I had when I was younger, had I known how hectic my life would eventually become. It's all water under the bridge now, though. It would give me a great deal of pleasure to say that our wedding went off without a hitch, but such was not the case. Although the entire entourage of guests from out of town and out of state (as well as the ones from the immediate vicinity) made it to the wedding fine, there was one late-arriving guest -the minister that we had asked to officiate the ceremony. It seems that his schedule had been a little hectic, too. A trip to the emergency room with two sick little ones the night before our chosen wedding date had thrown the good padre out of his rhythm, (and he would not have been able to attend if we had gotten married on the originally planned date) and he was extremely apologetic upon his requested arrival. Nicole handled it like a trooper, though, making the necessary phone calls and arrangements for our guests to be comfortable until the ceremony could begin. A late-arriving originating flight, as well as a late-arriving connecting flight to our honeymoon destination, capped off the day for Nicole and me, two people whose pet peeve is wasting time. (My theory is that there is no such thing as "free time" because once you've spent it, it's gone, and you can never get it back. Time is our one asset that is truly irreplaceable.) There are life lessons every day, though. Again, although everything on our most important day as a couple ran off schedule, everything worked out fine in the end. I don't think that either of us will ever forget our “free weekend in May."
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