This is the story of a little girl whose own Love Story would never be found so she adopted the Love Story of her mommy and daddy. I remember this conversation with Gracie as if it happened an hour ago. I miss this this little girl so much and I am happy to have her as an angel above me.
Gracie: My daddy saw my mommy and in his heart he knew he had to find a way to marry her. The first time he saw her his heart told him so. The first time he kissed her, her eyes told him so. The day he married her he told her if she ever stopped loving him his heart would stop beating all together. Everyday before they were married they never went to sleep before they told each other they loved each other. When my daddy asked her to marry him he said to her 'You are such a beautiful princess. Would you like to marry this toad and turn him into a prince?" My mommy said 'ribbit' which is toad for yes. They are living happily ever after and their love will never die.
We grow up. We fall in love. We build a life together and slowly we build upon that love and nurture it and enjoy the things that make it grow. Then things happen that make our hearts ache and we search and search for an answer in how we can get that love back. That love, in fact, has never lessened. We let things clog up our hearts and cloud up our sight into the love we have inside of us. It makes us feel like what we felt back then was not what we thought it was. Whether as a couple you are struggling to find that lost love, or someone who due to the death of a love one may be afraid to love again, there is somewhere you can go to figure out how to repair the ache you feel inside your heart.
The memories made and planted deep inside us will bring to light the past we miss. It's usually the last place we visit in our struggles in life but the first place we should. Memories, good and bad, are what helps us make our future decisions. They also shed light on how we got to where we are today. They help us remember why we chose the paths we did. Often times they can help us get back on that path by reminding us what we have to lose that we swore we could not live without.
One of the early conversations I had with my little angel Gracie was how her parents met. Her story was cute and charming and in an eight year old girls eyes was what fairy tales are made of. I also visited with her parents, Bill and Annie, to get a better picture of how Gracie's life came to be. I came to the conclusion that although Gracie's story was close to how her parents became a couple, it really was a love story that represented closely the story told by Gracie.
Bill: I first met Annie on her seventeenth birthday. My family happened to be at the same restaurant her family was at celebrating her birthday. The moment I saw her my heart not only skipped a beat, it picked up a rhythm of its own that told me there was something special about this girl. I turned to my brother Bobby and made the statement, "I am going to marry that girl someday." Bobby laughed it off as he said, "You're only seventeen, you've never went out with a girl more then once." I asked the hostess to seat our party of four near where her family was sitting which contained a party of eight.
Annie: I was with my parents, my sister, and both sets of my grandparents, celebrating my seventeenth birthday. To be honest with you, I never noticed who was sitting at the tables around us, I was just enjoying the time with my family. I first noticed Billy when the staff appeared at our table with a birthday cake with a single candle on it and begun to sing happy birthday to me. There were probably six waiters standing around all in uniform, then there was this guy standing with them in a Red Sox Tee-Shirt and a faded pair of blue jeans. It was like a photo captioned 'one of these items is out of place'.
Bill: I saw the staff moving towards Annie's table and decided I would stand up with them and sing happy birthday to her. I did not think she had noticed me before and I was sure this would capture her attention. When the song was over and the staff walked away I was left standing at their table. I wished the birthday girl happy birthday and introduced myself. Before I went back to my table and took my seat I looked at Annie and all her beauty and said, "I just wanted to express to you how happy I hope your life is when you marry the man who will love you for the rest of your life".
Annie: I remember my sister poking fun at Billy when he walked away from our table after wishing me a happy birthday and telling me he hoped my life was happy when I met the love of my life. I felt my face turn red when he spoke to me and I remember my father asking me "do you know that boy?" I also remember thinking 'no, I do not know that boy but I sure would like to see what he is all about'. It was difficult to engage myself into more family conversation after Billy introduced himself to me. I was so disappointed that I had already made my wish when I blew out my candle. My wish was that my gift from my grandparents would be a shiny new car, like the one the four of them bought my sister on her seventeenth birthday two years ago. I wanted that wish back, because more than a car, I wanted that boy to find a way to find me once I left that restaurant.
Bill: I was anxious as I sat there waiting for her party to leave, unsure of how I could make sure this was not over before it had a chance to start. As they walked by our table I noticed Annie and her sister dragging slowly behind the six adults they had arrived with. As she passed she stopped briefly to thank me for the birthday wishes. I grabbed a pen and took her hand. Palm side up I wrote my cell number in the middle of her palm. I told her, "call me when you can't stop me from lingering in your mind".
Annie: I about fated when he grabbed my hand and wrote his number in my palm. I closed that palm tight as I walked away from him smiling as if it might slip out of my grip, even though it was written on the skin itself. My sister, Jennifer, teased me the entire way home about the boy who flirted with me that night. My father was a bit disturbed about the boldness of that young man who dared to interrupt our family dinner. My mom saw the spark in my eyes and told my father she thought he was a very nice polite young man. I just thought he was cute and he was paying attention to me and he was lingering on my mind.
Bill: I never expected for Annie to actually call me, although she was on my mind the rest of the entire evening. Why I did not think to ask her for her number was something I felt I would regret the rest of my life. The girl that made my heart skip a beat when I first laid eyes on her, made it miss a beat when she walked out that door.
Annie: I did text Billy that night, telling him, "You are still lingering on my mind. Annie."
Bill: We met on Annie's seventeenth birthday and on her eighteenth birthday we were married. June 1, 2002. I married the girl that first made my heart skip a beat and she's been making it skip since that first time I laid my eyes on her.
Annie: Billy has always told me that the day he first saw me his heart started a rhythm that beat to the tune of every love song ever written. I can truthfully say that my heart beats stronger everyday we have each other. I cannot imagine a life without the man who will love me for the rest of my life.
Bill and Annie: I am just a kid who believes in one love, one marriage. I haven't been through what you have been through in the tragedy of losing your beautiful eight year old daughter on May 27th of this year. I can only imagine the difficulty in being such a young couple with a lot of life ahead of them, trying to figure out how to move forward in your grief. I can attest to the pain of losing a loved one that you never expected would never be with you until the end of your time on earth. I know that pain never leaves and the search continues on for ways to find relief from that pain, if even for a moment. I would encourage you to hold onto your faith and trust that God has a plan that will be much greater then the pain. Never let go of the memories that are the foundation of what you mean to each other. You will get through this and you will come out stronger in your love for one another. We cannot turn back the hands of time and we cannot push those hands of time any faster than the beat of our hearts. We can, however, utilize the time we are in to rebuild our trust in God, our trust in each other, and our trust in ourselves.
Gracie: Don't worry my little angel in heaven, we got this. Spread those tiny wings and blow your angel dust upon us. Love and miss you Gracie!
Gracie: My daddy saw my mommy and in his heart he knew he had to find a way to marry her. The first time he saw her his heart told him so. The first time he kissed her, her eyes told him so. The day he married her he told her if she ever stopped loving him his heart would stop beating all together. Everyday before they were married they never went to sleep before they told each other they loved each other. When my daddy asked her to marry him he said to her 'You are such a beautiful princess. Would you like to marry this toad and turn him into a prince?" My mommy said 'ribbit' which is toad for yes. They are living happily ever after and their love will never die.
We grow up. We fall in love. We build a life together and slowly we build upon that love and nurture it and enjoy the things that make it grow. Then things happen that make our hearts ache and we search and search for an answer in how we can get that love back. That love, in fact, has never lessened. We let things clog up our hearts and cloud up our sight into the love we have inside of us. It makes us feel like what we felt back then was not what we thought it was. Whether as a couple you are struggling to find that lost love, or someone who due to the death of a love one may be afraid to love again, there is somewhere you can go to figure out how to repair the ache you feel inside your heart.
The memories made and planted deep inside us will bring to light the past we miss. It's usually the last place we visit in our struggles in life but the first place we should. Memories, good and bad, are what helps us make our future decisions. They also shed light on how we got to where we are today. They help us remember why we chose the paths we did. Often times they can help us get back on that path by reminding us what we have to lose that we swore we could not live without.
One of the early conversations I had with my little angel Gracie was how her parents met. Her story was cute and charming and in an eight year old girls eyes was what fairy tales are made of. I also visited with her parents, Bill and Annie, to get a better picture of how Gracie's life came to be. I came to the conclusion that although Gracie's story was close to how her parents became a couple, it really was a love story that represented closely the story told by Gracie.
Bill: I first met Annie on her seventeenth birthday. My family happened to be at the same restaurant her family was at celebrating her birthday. The moment I saw her my heart not only skipped a beat, it picked up a rhythm of its own that told me there was something special about this girl. I turned to my brother Bobby and made the statement, "I am going to marry that girl someday." Bobby laughed it off as he said, "You're only seventeen, you've never went out with a girl more then once." I asked the hostess to seat our party of four near where her family was sitting which contained a party of eight.
Annie: I was with my parents, my sister, and both sets of my grandparents, celebrating my seventeenth birthday. To be honest with you, I never noticed who was sitting at the tables around us, I was just enjoying the time with my family. I first noticed Billy when the staff appeared at our table with a birthday cake with a single candle on it and begun to sing happy birthday to me. There were probably six waiters standing around all in uniform, then there was this guy standing with them in a Red Sox Tee-Shirt and a faded pair of blue jeans. It was like a photo captioned 'one of these items is out of place'.
Bill: I saw the staff moving towards Annie's table and decided I would stand up with them and sing happy birthday to her. I did not think she had noticed me before and I was sure this would capture her attention. When the song was over and the staff walked away I was left standing at their table. I wished the birthday girl happy birthday and introduced myself. Before I went back to my table and took my seat I looked at Annie and all her beauty and said, "I just wanted to express to you how happy I hope your life is when you marry the man who will love you for the rest of your life".
Annie: I remember my sister poking fun at Billy when he walked away from our table after wishing me a happy birthday and telling me he hoped my life was happy when I met the love of my life. I felt my face turn red when he spoke to me and I remember my father asking me "do you know that boy?" I also remember thinking 'no, I do not know that boy but I sure would like to see what he is all about'. It was difficult to engage myself into more family conversation after Billy introduced himself to me. I was so disappointed that I had already made my wish when I blew out my candle. My wish was that my gift from my grandparents would be a shiny new car, like the one the four of them bought my sister on her seventeenth birthday two years ago. I wanted that wish back, because more than a car, I wanted that boy to find a way to find me once I left that restaurant.
Bill: I was anxious as I sat there waiting for her party to leave, unsure of how I could make sure this was not over before it had a chance to start. As they walked by our table I noticed Annie and her sister dragging slowly behind the six adults they had arrived with. As she passed she stopped briefly to thank me for the birthday wishes. I grabbed a pen and took her hand. Palm side up I wrote my cell number in the middle of her palm. I told her, "call me when you can't stop me from lingering in your mind".
Annie: I about fated when he grabbed my hand and wrote his number in my palm. I closed that palm tight as I walked away from him smiling as if it might slip out of my grip, even though it was written on the skin itself. My sister, Jennifer, teased me the entire way home about the boy who flirted with me that night. My father was a bit disturbed about the boldness of that young man who dared to interrupt our family dinner. My mom saw the spark in my eyes and told my father she thought he was a very nice polite young man. I just thought he was cute and he was paying attention to me and he was lingering on my mind.
Bill: I never expected for Annie to actually call me, although she was on my mind the rest of the entire evening. Why I did not think to ask her for her number was something I felt I would regret the rest of my life. The girl that made my heart skip a beat when I first laid eyes on her, made it miss a beat when she walked out that door.
Annie: I did text Billy that night, telling him, "You are still lingering on my mind. Annie."
Bill: We met on Annie's seventeenth birthday and on her eighteenth birthday we were married. June 1, 2002. I married the girl that first made my heart skip a beat and she's been making it skip since that first time I laid my eyes on her.
Annie: Billy has always told me that the day he first saw me his heart started a rhythm that beat to the tune of every love song ever written. I can truthfully say that my heart beats stronger everyday we have each other. I cannot imagine a life without the man who will love me for the rest of my life.
Bill and Annie: I am just a kid who believes in one love, one marriage. I haven't been through what you have been through in the tragedy of losing your beautiful eight year old daughter on May 27th of this year. I can only imagine the difficulty in being such a young couple with a lot of life ahead of them, trying to figure out how to move forward in your grief. I can attest to the pain of losing a loved one that you never expected would never be with you until the end of your time on earth. I know that pain never leaves and the search continues on for ways to find relief from that pain, if even for a moment. I would encourage you to hold onto your faith and trust that God has a plan that will be much greater then the pain. Never let go of the memories that are the foundation of what you mean to each other. You will get through this and you will come out stronger in your love for one another. We cannot turn back the hands of time and we cannot push those hands of time any faster than the beat of our hearts. We can, however, utilize the time we are in to rebuild our trust in God, our trust in each other, and our trust in ourselves.
Gracie: Don't worry my little angel in heaven, we got this. Spread those tiny wings and blow your angel dust upon us. Love and miss you Gracie!
