"Yeah, they were on the same plane my parents were on. That's how Jes and I met. When the plane went down they notified all the family members and attempted to console us with apologies and all these technical terms that meant nothing to me. I was a kid who didn't really understand what was going on, I only wanted to know when my parents were going to come home. They told all of our guardians that they would offer any grief counseling that we needed, at no cost to any of the families. My grandparents were my guardians at the time, so they thought that it would be a good idea for me to go and get any emotions I had, because of the accident, out. That's where I met Jes. She was a little younger than I was, but she had my back. No matter what went down, she had my back," Gwen laughed as she visualized the words she spoke.
"Where are your grandparents now?"
CJ asked Gwen as she poured
herself a second glass of wine.
"They passed away a few years after the accident. You know it's
funny about love. True love that is."
"What's so funny about it?"
"Well true love can't live without true love. I mean, my grandparents
were together for sixty years and when my grandmother passed away, no
more than three months had passed and my grandfather followed.
People said that he couldn't live without his true love."
"I guess you have a point. People become so in tune with their mate
that it is hard to envision themselves without them until it happens, then
it becomes a lesson before dying."
Gwen got up from the love seat and walked to the fireplace to add a
log to the now retiring flame. She poured herself another glass of wine
before returning to her position on the love seat.
"So what happened after the counseling?" CJ asked.
"Well, Jes and I became good friends after that. I lived with my
grandparents and so did she. After I graduated from high school, I took
a year off and worked to save up money. The following year I was
accepted at Clark-Atlanta University, and if you haven't guessed it, so
was Jes. My grandmother died the Summer I left and my grandfather
died shortly after. Jes' grandparents pretty much did the same thing;
just her grandfather went first. We went through school together, then
moved back to LA together, and we've been together ever since."
"How did you manage to finish school with all of that going on?" CJ
asked with tears in her eyes.
"I asked myself what could I change and the answer was nothing."
While CJ absorbed Gwen's past, Gwen reached for the kleenex that
sat next to the crystal lamp to help CJ control her emotions. The rainy
night had provided the right atmosphere for an intimate talk between
friends. The girls sat in silence as raindrops fell in rhythm from the roof
drainage. With peace in the air and a feeling of self worth Gwen headed
for the front door.
"You know CJ, when I was a kid my mother loved the rain. She could
sit for hours and just watch it fall. It was like the rain was talking to her.
As if she understood what each drop was saying as it fell to the earth.
She would just watch it." Gwen opened the door and her emotions took
over as she thought about the few memories that she had of her mother.