Listening to My Heart

Monday, April 28, 2014

My Absence

Dear readers of this story,

I'm sorry that I haven't posted a new chapter in the last little while. We had an insane week in our household last week. A week ago today we found out that our daughter has Type 1 Diabetes. She had been struggling with what we thought was a virus for many months. We were very relieved to find out what was wrong, but as you can imagine, learning that your child has a life long disease and also learning how to manage it is overwhelming. We were doing good to get through a day with carb counting, insulin injections, blood sugar monitoring, and trying to make sure our other child felt loved and was okay with all of these changes; so the thought of doing a chapter was just out of the question.

So what does that mean for this story and Jeff's? It's still here and I'll still be posting chapters but it may not be as often. I'd love to try to keep with one a week and that will be my goal, but if I miss a week, you'll know why.

Also, if you've commented on a chapter in the last week or two, I'm so sorry I haven't responded. I will soon. Just may take a couple days. :)

Thank you so much for reading this and Jeff's story! I promise, there are chapters for each that are a work in progress and hopefully, I'll be able to post one for each this week.

Thanks again for reading!
Sandybeachgirl

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

George - Chapter Six: Christmas Surprises - A Surprise Guest

Normal warnings: Lots of pictures and some language.

The two weeks that were between my last visit to Bridgeport and Christmas crawled by. I had talked to Trev and Charlotte every day in an attempt to put my mind at ease about Charlotte being safe. Trev had started going to the bar more to keep an eye on Charlotte, which I wasn’t thrilled about him going to a bar all the time, but under the circumstances I did feel better knowing that he was watching out for her. Trev had told me that Ethan had also been watching out for both Charlotte and Steph and that neither of them walked out of the bar alone at night and that either Ethan, Trev or both of them made sure that the girls got home. Everytime I talked to Charlotte she would express her unhappiness about how she felt Ethan and Trev were being too overprotective. I tried my best to explain that because she lived in the same apartment building as Steph, and since Tony had threatened Steph, Trev and I wanted to make sure she was safe. When that still didn’t appease her I would then tell her that it was also to make sure Steph was safe which seemed to made her feel better.

Both Trev and Charlotte were due in town in a couple of hours for the beginning of our Christmas get-together. That was something else Charlotte had talked about every time we talked on the phone since I had returned home. She seemed to be okay with seeing Mom at my house and then going to Mom’s for Christmas Eve but she still seemed nervous about spending the night there. I tried to be understanding. Even for me the house was filled with memories of dad and most of the time they were comforting; but there were times that a memory would bring back the pain from Dad not being there. That’s what I tried to remind myself of whenever Charlotte talked about being unsure and uneasy about going back to Mom’s house.

Another thing that Charlotte had been talking about was having a friend come with her when she and Trev came for Christmas. I was very much against it at first since I knew that whoever it was would feel completely out of place considering what was going to happen. They would have to witness the reunion of Mom and Charlotte, which was going to be emotional, and then they’d have to witness the first Christmas that Trev, Mom, Charlotte and I would be having in over six years. Not only would they feel out of place, they would feel uncomfortable. I tried telling Charlotte that it wasn’t the greatest idea but she just kept going on about how the person didn’t have anywhere to go for Christmas. I continued to stand my ground until Mom called me one day. Charlotte had actually called Mom to see if she was okay with her friend coming for Christmas and she of course told Mom how they didn’t have anywhere to go. When Mom had more than willingly agreed, Charlotte told her how I was being stubborn about it so Mom called me. I couldn’t fight both of them so I gave in. I just hoped this friend knew what the situation was, but there was no telling if Charlotte had told them.

I actually had the day off since I had made sure to not schedule any appointments. I wanted to make sure that everything was ready for when Trev, Charlotte and friend showed up. I had gone to the store and bought some general food items and the ingredients for the salmon I was making for dinner, made sure all the beds had clean bedding, vacuumed the cat fur off the furniture, and made sure that the bathrooms had plenty of towels. After I finished I glanced at the clock. It was four and they were due to arrive at four thirty. I decided to take a quick shower and change before they arrived. As I showered I started to realize how excited I was. It was Christmas, Charlotte was going to be with us, I was having company stay at the house, which was a rare thing, and Mom and Charlotte were going to be reunited.

I quickly finished my shower and got dressed. Even though I kept looking at the clock every five minutes it felt like it should have been twenty. Time kept trickling past and I didn’t have anything to do but wait. I tried to read but I couldn’t concentrate on any of the words. I even tried playing with Parsley and Sage but they were much more interested in napping. I was about to go into the kitchen to go back over the salmon recipe for dinner when I heard the doorbell. I walked into the foyer and then opened the front door.

“Man! Am I glad to finally be here! The roads weren’t all the great going through the mountains and the way Charlotte drives, I thought I was going to die!” Trev said as we hugged.

“Ha! I’m surprised you let her drive.”

“She didn’t give me much choice.” He admitted.

“Oh shut up Trev! It wasn’t that bad!” Charlotte said as she entered the foyer. “Jeez, you’d think we almost went over a cliff when all we did was slide a couple of times. God George! This is nice! And you weren’t kidding, you do live right across the street from Grandma and Grandpa Hobble!” I smiled and hugged her.

“So, where’s your friend? Did they decided to not come?”

Trev and Charlotte smiled and then turned to look at the door. I followed their eyes to the door and my jaw almost hit the ground as I saw the “friend” walk up.

10,000 View Special - The Men of Listening to My Heart

As Listening to My Heart reaches different milestones, I become more and more grateful to you, the readers. Not that I'm not already grateful, but these are special moments. Moments where I get to say, thank you. And I do thank you! Thank you for taking time out of your life to read, laugh, cry, and comment. I know that there are so many other things that you could be doing with your life, and the fact that you've taken time out to read this little legacy, is overwhelming to me.

I spent some time thinking about how I could thank all of you. Maybe a special chapter? Perhaps a glimpse into the future? What about a photoshoot. . .? And that's when it came to me. . .a photoshoot of the men of Listening to My Heart. I dug into some old saved games, dusted off some of their clothes, and cleaned them up good. For some of the side characters, I've provided a synopsis of what happened to them after their stories branched off from the heirs. I hope this brings a smile to your face like it did mine. It was fun seeing some of these older guys again.

So please, sit back, maybe grab a drink, a snack is always good too, enjoy the show. . . and thank you again for reading!

Sandybeachgirl

******

The Men of Listening to My Heart

Generation One

Johnny Johnson

After Johnny left Appaloosa to travel the world, he met a woman named Wanda and they quickly fell in love. They settled down in her home country of England and they had a son, named Patrick. Johnny, Chuck, and Amanda still remained friends through the years and when Johnny passed away (three years after Carson) Chuck and Amanda flew to England for the funeral.

Chuck Hobble

Generation Two

Trent Matthews

After graduating college, Julia and Trent moved back to Appaloosa and married a year after Bridge and Carson. Soon after, they moved to a nearby town and had two boys. they remained friends with Bridge,Carson, Charlie, and Kate and attended Carson's funeral. They continue to talk and occasionally see their Appaloosa friends.

Carson Davila