The Life I Once Knew
I wrote this story back in March right after I got out of the hospital, and well during all that time. I was supposed to write a 5-pg thing for Creative Writing..and let's just say it's quite a bit more than that...Idk why I haven't posted it earlier..just never thought to I guess..but here it is now.
Enjoy guys!Comment and tell me what you think.Appreciate it. Good reading =]
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The Life I Once Knew
The story that you are about to read shows the faith of a man; a man who gave to God his life and received the one thing every human strives for: true happiness.
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This story is about my life and the girl who changed it and the God who made it all possible. I'm sixty-five years old; the year is 2054. I've been thinking to myself that now is a better time than any to write about my life. Well already I haven't been completely honest with you. Three months ago I was diagnosed with CHF, shorthand for congestive heart failure. As you know a life threatening condition is the perfect solution to get someone on their knees introspecting their lives. That's the real reason I thought the writing of this was imperative. God, I am lucky to have made it this far truth be told. With all my past history of heart problems, let's just say God has been fortunate to me.
Well, if your curiosity is killing you as to who I am, my name is Zachary Mark Hallogan. I was born and raised in Barrwood, TN. It was a nice city. Not overcrowded or so rural that when you were told to go to the store you would go ten min away to find one. I was fortunate enough to have grown up in a two-parent home, unlike many of my friends. Along with that, I was raised up to be a strong Christian man of God, which I am still thankful for today. How about I begin by starting with my birth.
I was born on June 21, 1989 in the hospital that my mom worked in as a LPN later to become a RN. The hospital was St. Luke's Memorial Hospital, a dull looking place on the outside, so full of life on the inside. I was a big baby according to my mother, a green eyed, brown-haired 8lbs 9oz baby. I wasn't the one that had to force me out, so it didn't bother me being a big baby. Through the years I heard more and more about my birth as most kids did and found out that when I was born I actually had the umbilical cord around my neck. Mom said they almost lost her and me at one point. I'm sure my dad was dumbfounded and sweating bullets.
My dad was an interesting person. He was a self-employed painter and drywaller with his dad. He was tall, had dark hair, tan skin; just a normal guy. Although he only had one problem, he was an abuser, not to his kids, but to my mother. It's the one thing that drove me to hate him more and more each day. I suppose I never hated him all the time, but just while he was doing something to her. Broke her toe, poured dirt in her car, threatened her weekly, just to name a few of the lesser of the evils. I've always felt that he just didn't feel connected with me because I didn't like sports like he had wanted me to. He never hurt me, but like my mom I received some psychological abuse. Telling me I was a girl for something or another from time to time. I didn't let those kinds of things bug me though; I put up a defense to it. Turning the other cheek I guess you could call it, although my mom couldn't turn the other cheek. She had to face it day in and day out. Whether it was a good day or a hard day she had to endure. My mom told her friends that if she stayed together with him for longer than she did I would have killed him and that's probably the truth. It's like I have lived every day of my life as trying to be his opposite; through the grace of God that is what I have become. He allowed me to go through the worse possible situation to show me what complete opposite amazing things are out there. He showed me how to be a man, not my father.
I've always been more like my mother anyway. Ask my dad, he'll tell you the same thing. Actually on a few occasions I think he actually called me a "momma's boy." If you think about it why would I want to be like him? Being like my mom was sure better than being like him. My mom was just as interesting as my dad was. I already said she was a strong person for even just having to put up with my dad day in and day out. She was an average height of about 5'6, dirty blonde hair, average weight, and always had to get the last word in an argument. Oh you wouldn't believe how many times we would get into arguments about random things. Since I was like my mom, I had to get the last word in an argument too. She made me the person I am today, made me realize so many things. She taught me to be a good person and that we also don't need to give in when our morals are under pressure.
I never did mention that we were highly involved in church. We went to a few churches when I was a kid. I actually still have a few friends from those early churches we attended. So many thoughts flood in when I think about church. When I was little all my friends and I would play Gameboy and I remember nobody could open up the cases except me. The real meaning of going to church and God in my life really didn't hit me until I was about thirteen I would say. I was saved when I was real young, but I really didn't grasp who God really was in my life. Going to church camp I believe really changed my views and helped me along my walk with God. I also had some bad attempts at having "girlfriends" at church. Everyone but about two of my girlfriends I ever had came from the church I attended. I definitely don't count any of the girlfriends I had before high school as a true "girlfriend."
My dad rarely attended church unless it was a special occasion like Christmas or Easter. My mom always tried to get him to go, but if he refused it wouldn't keep her home. My mom always sang at church. She was told when I was just a baby, by a prophet, that she had a gift from God and to never hide what He had given her. She never did. She always sang when asked and always sang for Him. Although with no support of her God given ability from my dad she questioned it sometimes. She never did quit singing though.
As time went on life around my house stayed about the same, dealing with the weekly arguments and other crap that went on. I went to grade school at Barrwood Elementary. My first life experiences with so many things happened there. Making new friends, having a girlfriend, and even playing tag on the girls' side and having them find out I was actually undercover from the boys. Those were the days weren't they? The fundamentals of life were given to us there. That's a huge deal now that I look back on it. I mean you can't function in society not knowing your alphabet, numbers, and how to read. It's hard to imagine that not having something as simple as elementary school could indefinitely change a person's life for the worse.
One experience that really stands out was one time when me and my friend Matt were outside eating on a hot spring day. It was hot so we decided to sit under the shade of a nice tree on the sidewalk. With the school behind us, kids playing in front of us, and kids eating to our right we sat and talked. In the middle of the chatting I hear someone calling out my name "Zach…Zach…hey!" I turned to see who it was and I couldn't make them out. Then they screamed out once again, "Hey, Donna likes Derek now and not you." Of course at that time being so young I was torn apart. My first girlfriend taken away from me by a guy named Derek. Looking back at that, of course I'm not sad, but on the contrary I find humor in it. Thinking back on the millions of small incidents like that it brings a smile back on my face. Mainly due to realizing we had no worries back then. It was all about having fun and watching cartoons. Only one thing interfered with me having a normal childhood. Other than my father something else drastic happened. My grandpa died; my mom's dad. I was told coming home from school one day in Kindergarten back in '95.
I was on my back porch when mom told me, "Honey I have something to tell you. Your grandpa died."
I was heartbroken. I started crying my eyes out and replied,
"He was my best friend in the whole world!" He really was.
When I think about my grandpa there is one strong memory that sticks with me. I've asked my mom about it before, just trying to determine when this actually happened, but I never had too much luck. I remember I was inside my grandma and grandpa's house watching cartoons. It seemed like Easter or something because there was something about Bugs Bunny on there and it being an "Easter Special." I walked outside to my grandpa who was working on something in his building he had out back. I asked him if he believed in angels and possibly God, I can't remember and waited for his reply. For all that is within me I can't seem to remember his reply to that question. It's a haunting feeling to be honest. I believe God was using me to foreshadow his soon coming death and to remind him that he needed to get right with God soon.
After years of hearing stories about my childhood from multiple family members the subject always comes up about my grandpa. They all tell me how much he loved me and how we did everything together. Being so young at the time I can't remember any of those fun times as much as I would like to; being sixty-five also doesn't help much either. Pictures and videos are mainly what I have left to remind me of how he was back when he was alive. My mom and dad actually did something really nice for me after my grandpa died. They bought me a dog, a sheltie to be exact. This dog was the cutest little thing ever; we named her Meagan. She really helped me regain my happiness I lost due to my grandpa's death. It all went well until sometime during my childhood my dad stopped taking care of her. Once again my dad threw me through a loop. I had to go and talk to our family doctor, who was a friend of mom's. It killed me knowing that my dad didn't care even the least little bit for a dog's life. We eventually gave her up to live at my grandparents' house, my dad's parents. They took care of her until I was around twenty-three, when she died in her sleep.
In my earlier years my little brother was born. I was in fourth grade and it was a huge deal. I had prayed for a little brother for some time, but didn't expect it to be so soon, and neither did my parents. He was an average looking kid. I'm not going to say he was cute. All babies look like babies to me; not one too much cuter than another. My parents named him James Matthew Tanner Hallogan. My mom loved the name Tanner, so of course that had to go in there. I liked the names James and Matthew, since they were two of my friends in grade school. We all got a chance to name him, except for my dad. I don't think he minded at all though.
Several months after James' first birthday, my mom filed for divorce. I can't say that I was surprised; I wanted it just as bad as my mom did. My dad hadn't intensified his abuse, but had done something quite different. He started talking to women on the Internet. Not just women friends from the past, but possible dating partners. It eventually got so bad he told my mom that he had found someone in Pennsylvania that he wanted to be with. My mom told me years later why she kept up with the marriage even though it seemed doomed to failure. She didn't feel divorce was right. She wasn't raised by my grandparents to commit such an act. Although, one night God told her to look up the stairs (where my dad was on the computer talking to women no less) and said, "That's your problem." Right then and there she knew it was time to get the divorce.
It went on for quite a while. I remember that we all went to my grandma's house that first night, not sure what he might do. She had just gotten remarried to lifelong friend named Ray the year before, which ironically was my grandpa's name. He was a nice man when they first got married. He wanted to be involved in everyone's life and was a really cool guy. Just a few years afterwards though, he seemed to turn grumpy and always argumentative. My grandma had some minor skirmishes with him, but nothing ever too serious. Back to the divorce. Surprisingly we weren't disturbed that night. As time went on he moved back in with his mom and dad, my grandparents, until he finally rented a house months later. It was a long drawn out process of court cases, fighting over custody of James and me and of their belongings, but it finally ended with both mom and dad satisfied. James and I would see my dad every other weekend and would alternate holidays with him. As for much else of what each one got, I never found out, or cared much less. After thirteen years of marriage Jeff and Elly were finally separated.
I finally made it to middle school. James Monroe Middle School was the name, JMMS. That place was sure different from the school I had been to just the year before. One of the biggest differences was the people. All the kids I had just gone to elementary school with decided it was cool to act like other kids. Cussing was the norm for everyone, drugs were a new thing that everyone should try, and just the overall attitude of everyone was altered. I didn't get caught up in all the insanity of middle school like some kids did. I don't mean to make middle school out to be the worst thing in my life, because it sure wasn't. Some kids stayed smart and stuck with what they knew and didn't get involved in stuff that could harm them. I did have fun in middle school though. I learned tons of stuff and made new friends, got detention a couple times, and made some memories to say the least. The only stupid thing I did in middle school was when I broke my arm in sixth grade. I was swinging back and forth on an indoor swing of James' and it broke and I caught myself breaking my wrist in two places. That fun lasted for about three months until everything returned to normal. We all can't forget about 9-11. I was standing in front of the library when I heard about it. I didn't know what the World Trade Center was, but I never it had everyone scared. That sure was an insane time in everyone's history that no one will ever forget. Before I knew it though I was already out of that place. Just like that, JMMS seemed like a distant memory.
During my middle school years a few things changed in my life. Other than finding out about many sexual things that I never knew before, my mom got remarried. She definitely never wanted another man in life after all the stuff that had already went on. Although, God let someone straight in that was perfect for her. He was a good Christian guy that she had known but had not really known well enough to be involved with. She sang with him in the choir at the church we used to go to. His name was Dale Gibbens. He was a dark haired man, about 5'8, kind of heavy set, but an overall good guy. He cared for my mom like no one had, at least from what I had seen. He was, like I said, a singer as well as my mom. His occupation was an optician, he was good at what he did, and made a fairly good amount of money as well. When they got married we moved to a bigger house in the neighboring city of Greenville. It was a bigger city, with a lot more traffic as you notice first arriving there. I liked where we lived though. We lived in a much larger home than we had before and it was still close enough to everything we lived close to before. He had a grandson that he raised since his birth. He was a little taller than I was, a little older, and really athletic. Although, he was one grade under me you could tell that's where he needed to be. His name was Jimmy. He finished at his middle school before he attended high school with me.
Arriving at high school seemed like a distant memory finally coming alive. I got there having all these ideas of what it was going to be like and of, course it, was nothing like that. With all the things I heard about Barrwood High School, I'm glad it wasn't like that. High school was actually one of the best things in my life. I had so much fun there! That's the place where the nicknames started. At first I was kind of apprehensive to the whole nicknaming process, but I soon came to love it. Hal, Hally, Hallo, Halinator, just to name some. Eventually that's what everyone came to know me as, Hal. People saw me as the nice guy who loved to talk. Considering I won "most talkative" my senior year, which pretty much explains it. If it weren't for BHS, I wouldn't have been so talkative. I loved my high school days. I definitely can't say they were stress free, but compared to now high school was a breeze. I made some amazing friends back then too, but the best of them were Nikki Baker, Jane Saunders, and Randy Watson. Each one had their own individual ways of brightening up my day. Randy had been a good friend of mine since middle school, but Nikki and Jane weren't until high school. Back then all I cared about was my social life. Talking at school then coming right back home to talk to people on the Internet. Truthfully I was bored out my mind there for a while.
I got to go on a trip to Australia with a good teacher friend from school in the summer of '06. He took about ten kids from our school and we met up with two other groups when we got there. I had eighteen days of pure fun while I was over there. There were so many memories that came from that trip. I actually kept up with the people on that trip for many years afterwards. The same month I returned from the trip I finally met a girl. I had been looking for a girlfriend for some time from school, but all I ever got was rejected. This girl was exactly as tall as I was at the time, six feet, had long brown hair, freckles, and a set of nice lips to top it off. She was my first true love. She lived about an hour away from me and I didn't get to see her too much. She also played basketball for her school and was always busy with that. We would still keep up with each other over the phone and online. This girl seemed so perfect for me. Her name was Lori Circle. She had some weird things about her. When she came to a football game with one of my friends named Chelsie, who also introduced us, she didn't want to be held or even hold hands sometimes. It made me feel like I wasn't doing anything right. Time went on and we actually had our first kiss, my first, and her second. It really wasn't anything special like I had expected and I found out quite fast enough it sure wasn't for her either. The next day while on the phone she basically flat out told me that she didn't want to go out anymore. I tried my hardest to keep us together because I felt that with everything that was within me that we needed to be together. In the end we broke up, after about a month of dating. I was really torn up for a while; love does that to people.
I sure wasn't looking for another girlfriend after that whole experience, although God has a way of twisting things around in your life. That past summer I had went to church camp like I had done for five years previous, but this time was different. My friend Matt and I, not the elementary school friend, had tons of fun. He and I were assigned to the purple team. Each team got a country and we got Kenya. I found out the symbol for "k" in sign language was like making a peace sign and putting your thumb through it. When we did this sign we would say "Keep It Kenyan." The phrase obviously didn't have a true meaning, but it was just a fun thing to do. It eventually got to a point where everyone at camp was doing it and we thought it was hilarious.
Well on our team we had really two really outgoing girls, Lanisa and Christine. All the guys were instantly attracted to the tall, funny, and dark haired Lanisa; at least till we all found out she was only fourteen. We got smart and backed off. Christine on the other hand was like Lanisa's backup. She was fifteen, had red hair, freckles, creamy skin, and a laugh that instantly attracted anyone. I can't say I was attracted to her at first, but she kind of latched onto me. She just had something special about her that I couldn't overlook. Her personality is what made her the way she was. All the little things she did were hilarious.
After camp ended I lost touch with her for a good while. It wasn't until about the time after the breakup with Tori I started really talking to her again. As time went on a spark started to arise and we came to realize that we were crazy about each other. Asking her out wasn't hard at all. I wrote her a little poem asking her if she would be mine and she agreed; November 21, 2006 was the date. It's hard to imagine that Christine Elizabeth McNally in five short, what seemed like forever years, would be my wife. Like I already said, she was and still is amazing. I've known she was God's gift to me since day one. I wasn't sure if she was the one for me for a while, but sure enough God came through and showed me enough signs to show me that He definitely wanted me with this girl. We did so many crazy and fun things while we were going out. We laughed together, we cried together. I guess you could call it a match made in Heaven. It really helped to have our parents supporting us and not having to worry about them disliking who we were dating and each other's parents. Christine and I both wanted someone for so long to be in our lives and fill that void for love. We found it in each other.
When I was a senior I had to have open-heart surgery in Cincinnati, OH. They didn't have to open my rib cage, but they went in-between my ribs. A new procedure at the time called the Wolf Mini-maze. She kept my hopes up through the whole thing, which is just what I needed. I was quite sore for some time and finally went back to school after two and a half weeks to some very concerned friends and classmates. It's funny how people you haven't talked to in years finally decide to say hi and ask how you are in the face of a major event like my surgery. I knew I had the best girlfriend a guy could have. We talked about anything and everything. Staying up till midnight or later every night was a common occurrence. We made cute pet names for each other and the whole deal. I totally didn't mind, I personally loved just hearing her call me by those names. The only real hard thing about it was that she lived so far way away in St. John's, TN, which was about two hours away. It caused us a lot of trouble for that first year. She had her learners for a while before we met and I never got mine till I was about eighteen. We got to see each other so much more after we both got our licenses. The dates went from every few weeks to a few times a week. Even though by this time I had graduated high school still really unsure what I wanted to do with my life. I knew I wanted to go to Tennessee University, but I just had no concept of what I wanted to do.
I chose to do pre-med. I had always had the idea of doing something in the medical field but as to what, I had no clue. I remember thinking about how everyone always told me that God didn't make me go through that surgery for nothing. Then I remembered how Dr. Wolf said he ran a summer program for students that wanted to become cardiologists and possibly do the same surgery he does. Of course, if I wanted to join his program, I would have to get at least four years of college out of the way first. One day I finally set my mind to it and said, "I'm going to be a cardiologist." I enrolled myself in TU like I said I would and spent four years there and ended still with my heart set on enrolling in Dr. Wolf's program to become a cardiologist.
Through this whole time, Christine and I had really grown so much closer and talks of marriage were still looming around in our heads. Of course, it had only been four and a half years since we had been dating, but it had already felt like a lifetime. I definitely couldn't afford to get married and support a family until I was at least working and out of college. I did have a part-time job at Wendy's, but that sure won't get you enough money to live on for two people, let alone yourself. I still lived at home and I really didn't have a problem with it. It saved me a lot of money that I would have had to spend unnecessarily paying for rent somewhere else. That summer, after I graduated, I made rounds with Dr. Wolf for a few weeks to try it out. It was amazing all the things that I knew I was getting ready to learn. When I returned, I knew I had to go to Cincinnati University to be able for all this to come about. The big obstacle in this whole thing was Christine. I didn't want to leave her six hours away back in St. John's. After talking about it we both decided that everything would be perfectly fine and this was just going to be another obstacle that we would just have to overcome.
It was the fall of 2011 when I headed off to the University of Cincinnati. The place was huge and full of diversity. I wasn't much for large schools. I really enjoyed the closeness of a teacher student relationship that I sure didn't get too much of there. After several months of being that far away from everyone I had to do something, I needed Christine. It was nearing our fifth anniversary and I knew that now would be a perfect time to ask her to marry me. I had so many ideas of how I was going to do it too. On the way back towards home an idea came to mind. I would take her out to dinner for our anniversary at a really nice place and recite some fancy, but simple piece of poetry and pull out a ring and ask her to marry me. By the time I got home everyone was happy to see me once again. My monthly trips home were way too spaced out; I missed home and everything about it.
When November 21, 2011 came around, I told Christine we were going to go out to dinner and to just be ready to have fun. Lord was I nervous; it's not like you can be an expert on how to ask your girlfriend to marry you or anything. I'll tell you though; I practiced and practiced till I had everything I wanted to do down to the T. So, as the night progressed we ate and talked about how great these five years had been and just how much we loved each other. We talked about me in school and the distance and how we wished we could be closer.
Christine said, "I miss you so much Zach, you don't know how hard it's been just seeing you once a month."
I replied, "It really has been hard sweetheart, but I think I know something that will help."
She looked at me all surprised and said, "What?"
I pulled out the ring and got down on my knee and replied, "You're my morning, you're my night, and I want to be with you for the rest of my life, will you be my wife?"
With a tear in her eye and a smile on her face, she said, "Of course I will Zachary."
We had a big wedding. After six months of being engaged the date we finally chose came to, Saturday May 5, 2012. We decided upon the day together, thinking it would be just perfect for the two of us. A nice springtime wedding would be nice. Not having to worry about being cold or anything is always a plus. We had always planned on getting married five years after we starting dating. Of course we just were just young and filled our heads with wild dreams of possible futures together, but today it actually came true. With all of me and Christine's family and friends here together, the wedding was about to begin. We both were so nervous. To lighten the mood, I cracked some crazy joke about something or another and we kissed and said "Good luck" to each other and got into our places. I was on stage singing that song that I planned on doing for so long. It was called "I Knew I Loved You Before I Met You" by Savage Garden while she came up the aisle looking oh so beautiful. Dressed in a long white gown, holding flowers, accompanied by her father. The crowd quickly rose to their feet with all smiles on their faces. As Christine looked around in the crowd, she was given little grins to urge her on and wish her the best. She saw her mom, Ann, in the front row crying because she was so happy for her daughter. Then at last she looked right into my eyes and walked closer and closer till she finally arrived right into my arms.
The song ended.
The preacher came right beside us. I grabbed onto her and she grabbed onto me. She could feel the sweat from my hands and she gave me a look acknowledging that it was funny that I was so nervous. I returned it by giving her a little smirk right back. Then our attention was turned back to the preacher. After a few words he nudged his head towards me. I sly hint to start a surprise I had been planning for some time. I pulled out a piece of paper and said, "I have a few words to say before we continue."
I go on with what I believe is the best thing I have ever written to or about my soon-to-be wife. Tedious nights I spent perfecting what was on that small piece of paper. I finish it up and to my surprise as well, she has done the same. I get the biggest smile on my face just listening intently to every word; a tear starts to form in the crevice of my eye. I listened to her outline of our love and how it had changed her, molded her, and manipulated every fiber of her being. I felt as a small child would in a candy store, filled with excitement and glee. At that exact moment I thought I would break out into full-fledged crying, it was over. I gave her the biggest bear hug like she had given me so many times before. The preacher continued once again and of course got to the "I do's." We both, without any hesitation said, "I do" at our respected time. The words we had been waiting to hear for those five long years came out of the preacher's mouth.
"I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Hallogan. You may now kiss the bride," he said looking at me with a smile on his face.
Finally this moment had had arrived. The heat rose within me and butterflies were abounding. I reached out for her face and drew it closer to mine. We kissed. Every nerve fiber now tingling as though being kissed for the very first time. Electrifying is how I've always described it. It surprisingly went on for a little longer than I think everyone expected. Then the crowd suddenly gave out some "oooh's" and "ahhhh's." I drew back with a smile on my face and uncontrollable laughter. I always knew how to work up people; once again I had done it.
In this extravagant piece of architecture called St. Mary's Church of God located in Pigeon Forge, TN two hearts were changed forever. Looking around seeing the faces of the crowd, filled with friends and happy and crying faces, the shiny mahogany floors, large wooden rafters, beautiful white, pink, and purple flowers all around the stage, I realized my life would never be the same.
The reception came. Lord did we have fun there. We thanked everyone for coming out to join us on the happiest day of our lives. We all had a piece of gigantic traditional wedding cake made by a designer friend of Christine's. We got a good deal on it, which's all that mattered. I'm not tight with money, but there is no reason to senselessly spend too much money. My mom made a big thing of punch for everyone to enjoy. Well we did the only natural thing and shoved cake in each other's face. Ha, I still remember that little bit of cake that Christine got on her nose. I got it off of her, and then she gave me a small kiss and then whispered something into my ear.
She said, "I love you."
I replied with an ecstatic, "I love you too sweetheart!"
Then she asked me if I was having fun.
"Of course I am Christine," I replied.
She grinned and said; "Well you just wait till tonight mister."
Talk about sending my head spinning. She could give me a run for my money. Always making me feel that extra spark right when it was needed. That's all my mind could focus on as we continued the evening.
The scene finally simmered to a dull roar allowing us to open presents. We both stood up and told everyone to calm down because we were getting ready to open up our gifts. It seemed like it was an unending battle with paper that lasted for a good half-an-hour. Small presents, large presents, bright ones, dull ones, square ones, circular ones, were all found in front of us. The battle eventually was thought to have been won by the new married couple, but as we stood up to packing our things ready to leave, something happened. Steve, Christine's dad, stood up and proclaimed,
"Hey you crazy kids you forgot my gift!"
I turned around immediately and smiled at this man that was so eager to give me this gift. I reached out my hand to find an envelope slide gently onto it.
"Congratulations kid," he said.
I replied, "Thank you sir."
"Open it up and stop calling me sir," he retorted.
"The day you stop calling me kid, I'll stop calling you sir," I jokingly said.
He backed away a bit, ready for me to open up my gift; I followed his notion. So I opened up this white envelope ready for just about anything to come out of it. To my total shock it was two tickets for a 12-day excursion in Australia. I grabbed Steve and gave him a hug. Not knowing whether to cry or be happy, I mustered out the words,
"Thank you sir."
"No problem, it's the least I could do for you kids. You're my new son-in-law, now you two go and have fun" he said with a grin on his face.
Well as he insinuated, it was way past time for Christine and I to leave. We gathered all our gifts together and said our good-byes to our wedding guests. We made our way out of the spacious entryway that still held the slight fragrance of strawberries and cream from the punch that the ring-bearer spilled all over the carpet earlier. Surprisingly enough we arrived outside to find my car heavily decorated, with whipped cream, toilet paper, and writing all over. To my horror I saw quite interesting things on the car once I looked harder. "Don't fog up the windows"…"Go get her tiger"… "Hope you can make it to the hotel," were just a few of the things on there. No doubt that my friend Randy Watson had this scheme worked up for a good while. We got in and waved goodbye. On the way to the Best Western, we got some honks and stares. Heck, truth be told, we loved the attention. Well, we got to the hotel and all I'll say is that we had fun. No need to go into all the small details here.
We had been looking for a place to live for a while in those six months. I had been living on campus for about eight months, but now that I was married I needed to find a house. I wanted to live close to home in a city called Westwood, TN. Unfortunately we would have to wait until I got out of college. We found a really amazing house in Melbourne, KY, which was about thirty-min away from the college. We bought it as quick as we could. The moving day arrived when we packed our bags and headed out towards our new life in Melbourne. After the long six-hour road trip we finally arrived. We both stepped out of the vehicle to just catch our breath realizing this is where we were going to be living for at least three more years until I could go back to Tennessee to start my residency. We walked up the stairs and I told her to get into my arms so I could carry her across the threshold. As we walked in the door the smell of a new beginning flooded our bodies and gave us a sense of peace. Since Christine had gotten her Associate's Degree at Tennessee State College in accounting while I was in TU, she had major opportunities to find a job here. Find a job she soon did. She became an accountant for the huge City National skyscraper building. She really enjoyed it there and made a really good amount of money doing that as well.
As for me on the other hand I was doing random odd jobs around where I lived and in Cincinnati. Most of my time was spent with school and trying as hard as I could to become a cardiologist. I got to be Dr. Wolfe's P.A. After a full year I was ready to take a break. It seemed as though by the time we were settled in our new home I got an idea. I thought using those tickets to go to Australia would be a great diversion for Christine and me. We had been so bogged down in work and school for so long we were ready for a break.
In June of 2012, we packed our huge bags and left for our long awaited destination of Australia. I knew we would have fun. I had so much fun going during high school and now I had a wife to share the fun with; it went well. Her dad actually got the tickets from the same company that I went with back then as well. They had a program for college students that wanted to travel as well. I thought this would the chance of a lifetime and we didn't have to worry about getting from point A to point B in a foreign country without any assistance. Of course by the time we got there, we realized really fast that most of group only had one thing on there mind; getting drunk. Christine and I were focused on having the honeymoon that her dad wanted us to have. We did so many things over there that were amazing, to say the least. She got to experience the food and I had to re-experience it. It's really not too good, but she found it to be quite appetizing. We saw so many animals including kangaroos, koalas, and tons of animals we had never seen before. We got to go to this remote island with this immaculate waterfall that Christine and I had fun playing in for a few hours. One of the best things about the trip was lying with her under the stars and just looking at the immense amount of stars that you would never have seen even on the clearest of nights back home. We went shopping for ourselves and for souvenirs for family and friends back home. Before we knew it though our 12-day excursion in Australia was up. Getting home and readjusted to the time change was pretty crazy, but after a few days we got readjusted.
Time went on until my four years of college life was up. Finally, after eight years of schooling all I had to do was two more years of residency till I would finally become a cardiologist. Dr. Wolf had other plans for me. He wanted me to stay his P.A. for a couple more years until I could perform the mini-maze surgeries as he did. Personally I wasn't interested in becoming a cardiovascular surgeon; I just wanted to be a regular cardiologist that did things non-invasively. After much pressure to join him I told him that I had my mind set on going back home and being a cardiologist. We put our house up for sale in the spring of 2015. I was definitely ready to return back home. Our house was sold surprisingly fast and we left that summer. We actually found a really great house not too far from either of our hometowns. This place we found was called Westwood, TN. I had been looking at it before we left for Cincinnati and now it was time to move in. We still live here today, if that gives you an idea of how nice this place was. We had a nice acre of land and a white picket fence around our house. The house was made of bricks and had a chimney. It wasn't run down the least bit, it was very modern and we made it our home.
Christine found a good paying job at BB&T as the general manager of all the accountants working there. Once again she found herself a well paying job that satisfied her. I started my residency in the fall of 2015. Time seemed to vanish and yet again before I knew it my residency was over with and it was time to become a cardiologist. To celebrate I told Christine that I wanted to go on a trip. I remembered how long ago she had said she wanted to go to Scotland. She had this whole deal about herself being Scots-Irish and how she wanted to see the land of her ancestors. I had no clue how that was going to go, but I agreed to go for an adventure. We decided to stay for ten days in some fairly nice hotels. One thing was different about this trip; we winged it the whole way. No tour guides for us buddy, we were a married couple in Scotland, and we were determined to find our way around. I'm not saying we were stupid and just started driving, because of course we asked for directions from time to time. We got to explore the rich history of her ancestors that she wanted to see so badly. Monuments galore and accents that I loved to hear everyday. We stayed at some really nice hotels with amazing beds and huge pools. I can't say it was better than Australia, but it had a more of a relaxed pace, we could go when and where we wanted. Ten days seemed to come and go just like that. It was time to go back to reality.
We had so much to unpack from the trip it was crazy. I think after that trip I had a little more Scottish blood in me. I loved their accents, I didn't want to stop imitating them. After all that fun Christine stopped me and said,
"Zachary I think we might have brought an extra souvenir home."
"So what?" I replied, "We can always give it to your dad."
"Not that kind of souvenir Zach," she said.
"What the heck are you talking about?" I asked confused.
"I'm pregnant," she said with a smile.
I jumped to my feet and was ecstatic with joy. I was going to have a kid for Pete's sake. Time went on and Christine got bigger. That little wife of mine was growing and so was that bundle of joy insider her. We had to make constant trips to the doctor and find out little by little how our child was doing. One day we got to the hospital and they took the normal blood test like they had done before, but this time the results were different. She got an alpha fetal protein blood test. This test is designed to show if your child will have birth defects. If it comes back high the baby will have certain birth defects, while if it is low, Down syndrome is likely. Well Christine's test results came back high. We were so worried; we really truthfully didn't know what to do. The doctor told us to come back tomorrow and they would do an ultrasound on her. That night was church night, so we headed to church and actually had prayer for her and for everything to go right. We left from church with more peace of mind than when we came in. She asked me that night if I was worried and I told her that we had to trust in God and He would see us through this storm. I slept like a light, but Christine had a little trouble because she really didn't know what to expect the next morning.
We woke up and got ready to head out to the hospital for the ultrasound. When we got there we were welcomed with bright smiles from all the nurses. They laid her down and placed the jelly all over her enlarged belly. They started to run the machine over her and while the woman was going back and forth she suddenly stopped. She stared right at that screen. Right then and there I was prepared to hear the worst. She slowly went back and forth in the same general area, still staring intently at the black and white screen. Christine grabbed onto my hand sensing something was wrong as well. The nurse turned to us and said that was something that we should be concerned about. We asked her what it was and she replied saying that our baby didn't have birth defects but that there was another baby in there. A sigh of relief hit us until another wave of excitement and shock hit us realizing we were going to have two kids and twins at that. We found out that one was going to be a boy and the other a girl. At least we both got what we wanted.
Nine months went by and lo and behold two beautiful babies came out of Christine. The delivery went great with no problems what so ever. We named these two, Nicholas James Hallogan and Emily Marie Hallogan. I would say we were as prepared as we ever could have been. The whole beginning deal with the crying and changing diapers drove us mad for quite some time. Eventually it got easier as they got older. They went to school and grew up really happy kids. We helped them in their God-centered lives and God made them who he wanted them to be. My life with my amazing wife who stood beside me through thick and thin and who I loved in return so much. I remember a hard thing I had to go through right after our twenty-third wedding anniversary, I was forty-six and she was forty-four. I was driving to pick up the kids from school one day with Christine. It was a rainy day with the roads being pretty slick. As I was driving along I pulled up to an intersection. The light flashed green and I pulled out then as I look to my right I see a Hummer going God knows how fast right towards my passenger side. I swerved to avoid him, but the next thing I knew I woke up sore as crap, looking around trying to figure out what had happened. I had a few cuts and scraps, but nothing too bad. Then I thought to myself, oh no what about Christine. As I looked over to see how she was. You could see the blood running down her head in every direction. I was so scared. She was unconscious and non-responsive to my touch. Within moments I heard an ambulance pull up. They pulled us out of the car and started to patch me up.
I kept telling them I wanted to see my wife and that I was fine. They told me that everything was going to be ok and that Christine would be transferred to the hospital ASAP. Surprisingly they drove me to the hospital where Christine was and said I only had one condition. That condition was if I got checked out after finding her. I agreed and thanked them for everything. Once I got inside, I ran immediately into a hospital that I knew so familiar and met a familiar face at the desk. She asked me what was wrong and I briefly explained the situation and she let me to find my wife. By this time, I had realized that I was hurt a bit worse that I first believed. I think I might have broken my leg, but I couldn't be concerned with it until I found my wife. I made it up to CCU where she was lying there looking terrible. She slowly turned her head towards mine and began to speak. I told her just as fast to not talk and everything would be ok and that I was here and not going to leave her. She laid her head back down on the pillow and quietly said the words, "I love you." I kissed her bruised body and sat in the chair beside the bed all night. I watched her vitals on the monitor all night concerned for my wife. The love of my life lying here on this bed looking so pitiful it was hard to see. I walked down the hall for a minute to collect myself. I finally found a spot and knelt to pray. I asked God to keep her safe and protect her from possible infection that could set in.
I decided it would be a good time to hold up my end of the bargain. I went down to the ER and had them check me out. Sure enough I had broken my Tibia. Just a hairline, but it sure didn't feel good. They didn't have to place the bone or anything, but they did give me a cast and set me up ready to go. I started back on my way towards Christine, by this time it was morning. When I arrived she was moving a lot better. She was more alert than the night before. If you think about it getting shot up with Morphine, it will do that to you. I know what that's like. She was already proclaiming that she was healthy enough to leave and wanted to go. She was one lucky angel. Besides from all the cuts and scrapes she had broken her radius in her arm, her scapula in her shoulder, and one of her fingers. Getting hit with a hummer and having those injuries; shoot I'd take that any day. After two more days in the hospital she was finally released.
That time in my life scared the living crap out of me. I had been with this woman for twenty-three years and I wasn't about to let her go then. Writing this story has really helped me look back and realize what an amazing life I have lived. Like I said, I'm sixty-five years old and still have my beautiful sixty-three years old wife, who I have grown to love more and more each day. After forty-two years of marriage, I think I would know how to do something right. I've left everyone clueless to something very important in the writing of this. I am scheduled to have a surgery on my heart fairly soon. Being a cardiologist for thirty-five years before retiring I know my prognosis isn't very good. Everyone knows those biggie fries will come back to haunt you and, well, I'm living proof of that. I had a heart attack a few months back and they discovered that I had CHF, like I said. They also found that I had a few clogged arteries around my heart. They are going to have to place a total of four stints in my heart; Quadruple bypass surgery. I'm prepared to meet God and I know he planned my whole life out for me. Without ever having a problem with my heart in the first place I never would have met Dr. Wolf and became a general cardiologist. Without Christine I never would have lasted past fifty. She made my life worth living and God gave her to me when I was only--
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When my husband was only seventeen. It was so long ago, yet seems only like yesterday. You are probably just a little curious as to what has happened that I, Christine, am now writing and not Zach. Zachary Mark Hallogan's journey in this life has come to a close. He is now where every soul longs to be, up in paradise singing praises to the Almighty God. It is true that most look upon death as a horrifying occurrence, but not to my Zach. Death is just the final end to our separation from our loving creator. When the time is right I too shall be joining Zachary, to stand by his side for all eternity.
I had promised Zach that I would finish his life story if God should call him home before he was finished. So in conclusion, He has two amazing kids that have grown up, moved away, married, and given him grandchildren. God has been there with him through all the good and bad times. Zachary Mark Hallogan had all his dreams come true and has written about most every one of them for you to enjoy and see how God can take a regular person and make his life extraordinary. Zach did the best thing any man could do. He lived.
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With a bittersweet tear in Christine's eye as she wrote the last word, her mind wandered back to all the happy times they had shared, and was thankful that God had blessed them with such a good life together.
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Well congrats on finishing the story..lol..hope you enjoyed it...uhh...I have to first thank Sara for really helping me write this. She actually the very first line and the very last line. Also have to thank Stace my cuz! Please comment...tell if u either see anything wrong with it or if u liked it or whatever...bye!
Enjoy guys!Comment and tell me what you think.Appreciate it. Good reading =]
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The Life I Once Knew
The story that you are about to read shows the faith of a man; a man who gave to God his life and received the one thing every human strives for: true happiness.
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This story is about my life and the girl who changed it and the God who made it all possible. I'm sixty-five years old; the year is 2054. I've been thinking to myself that now is a better time than any to write about my life. Well already I haven't been completely honest with you. Three months ago I was diagnosed with CHF, shorthand for congestive heart failure. As you know a life threatening condition is the perfect solution to get someone on their knees introspecting their lives. That's the real reason I thought the writing of this was imperative. God, I am lucky to have made it this far truth be told. With all my past history of heart problems, let's just say God has been fortunate to me.
Well, if your curiosity is killing you as to who I am, my name is Zachary Mark Hallogan. I was born and raised in Barrwood, TN. It was a nice city. Not overcrowded or so rural that when you were told to go to the store you would go ten min away to find one. I was fortunate enough to have grown up in a two-parent home, unlike many of my friends. Along with that, I was raised up to be a strong Christian man of God, which I am still thankful for today. How about I begin by starting with my birth.
I was born on June 21, 1989 in the hospital that my mom worked in as a LPN later to become a RN. The hospital was St. Luke's Memorial Hospital, a dull looking place on the outside, so full of life on the inside. I was a big baby according to my mother, a green eyed, brown-haired 8lbs 9oz baby. I wasn't the one that had to force me out, so it didn't bother me being a big baby. Through the years I heard more and more about my birth as most kids did and found out that when I was born I actually had the umbilical cord around my neck. Mom said they almost lost her and me at one point. I'm sure my dad was dumbfounded and sweating bullets.
My dad was an interesting person. He was a self-employed painter and drywaller with his dad. He was tall, had dark hair, tan skin; just a normal guy. Although he only had one problem, he was an abuser, not to his kids, but to my mother. It's the one thing that drove me to hate him more and more each day. I suppose I never hated him all the time, but just while he was doing something to her. Broke her toe, poured dirt in her car, threatened her weekly, just to name a few of the lesser of the evils. I've always felt that he just didn't feel connected with me because I didn't like sports like he had wanted me to. He never hurt me, but like my mom I received some psychological abuse. Telling me I was a girl for something or another from time to time. I didn't let those kinds of things bug me though; I put up a defense to it. Turning the other cheek I guess you could call it, although my mom couldn't turn the other cheek. She had to face it day in and day out. Whether it was a good day or a hard day she had to endure. My mom told her friends that if she stayed together with him for longer than she did I would have killed him and that's probably the truth. It's like I have lived every day of my life as trying to be his opposite; through the grace of God that is what I have become. He allowed me to go through the worse possible situation to show me what complete opposite amazing things are out there. He showed me how to be a man, not my father.
I've always been more like my mother anyway. Ask my dad, he'll tell you the same thing. Actually on a few occasions I think he actually called me a "momma's boy." If you think about it why would I want to be like him? Being like my mom was sure better than being like him. My mom was just as interesting as my dad was. I already said she was a strong person for even just having to put up with my dad day in and day out. She was an average height of about 5'6, dirty blonde hair, average weight, and always had to get the last word in an argument. Oh you wouldn't believe how many times we would get into arguments about random things. Since I was like my mom, I had to get the last word in an argument too. She made me the person I am today, made me realize so many things. She taught me to be a good person and that we also don't need to give in when our morals are under pressure.
I never did mention that we were highly involved in church. We went to a few churches when I was a kid. I actually still have a few friends from those early churches we attended. So many thoughts flood in when I think about church. When I was little all my friends and I would play Gameboy and I remember nobody could open up the cases except me. The real meaning of going to church and God in my life really didn't hit me until I was about thirteen I would say. I was saved when I was real young, but I really didn't grasp who God really was in my life. Going to church camp I believe really changed my views and helped me along my walk with God. I also had some bad attempts at having "girlfriends" at church. Everyone but about two of my girlfriends I ever had came from the church I attended. I definitely don't count any of the girlfriends I had before high school as a true "girlfriend."
My dad rarely attended church unless it was a special occasion like Christmas or Easter. My mom always tried to get him to go, but if he refused it wouldn't keep her home. My mom always sang at church. She was told when I was just a baby, by a prophet, that she had a gift from God and to never hide what He had given her. She never did. She always sang when asked and always sang for Him. Although with no support of her God given ability from my dad she questioned it sometimes. She never did quit singing though.
As time went on life around my house stayed about the same, dealing with the weekly arguments and other crap that went on. I went to grade school at Barrwood Elementary. My first life experiences with so many things happened there. Making new friends, having a girlfriend, and even playing tag on the girls' side and having them find out I was actually undercover from the boys. Those were the days weren't they? The fundamentals of life were given to us there. That's a huge deal now that I look back on it. I mean you can't function in society not knowing your alphabet, numbers, and how to read. It's hard to imagine that not having something as simple as elementary school could indefinitely change a person's life for the worse.
One experience that really stands out was one time when me and my friend Matt were outside eating on a hot spring day. It was hot so we decided to sit under the shade of a nice tree on the sidewalk. With the school behind us, kids playing in front of us, and kids eating to our right we sat and talked. In the middle of the chatting I hear someone calling out my name "Zach…Zach…hey!" I turned to see who it was and I couldn't make them out. Then they screamed out once again, "Hey, Donna likes Derek now and not you." Of course at that time being so young I was torn apart. My first girlfriend taken away from me by a guy named Derek. Looking back at that, of course I'm not sad, but on the contrary I find humor in it. Thinking back on the millions of small incidents like that it brings a smile back on my face. Mainly due to realizing we had no worries back then. It was all about having fun and watching cartoons. Only one thing interfered with me having a normal childhood. Other than my father something else drastic happened. My grandpa died; my mom's dad. I was told coming home from school one day in Kindergarten back in '95.
I was on my back porch when mom told me, "Honey I have something to tell you. Your grandpa died."
I was heartbroken. I started crying my eyes out and replied,
"He was my best friend in the whole world!" He really was.
When I think about my grandpa there is one strong memory that sticks with me. I've asked my mom about it before, just trying to determine when this actually happened, but I never had too much luck. I remember I was inside my grandma and grandpa's house watching cartoons. It seemed like Easter or something because there was something about Bugs Bunny on there and it being an "Easter Special." I walked outside to my grandpa who was working on something in his building he had out back. I asked him if he believed in angels and possibly God, I can't remember and waited for his reply. For all that is within me I can't seem to remember his reply to that question. It's a haunting feeling to be honest. I believe God was using me to foreshadow his soon coming death and to remind him that he needed to get right with God soon.
After years of hearing stories about my childhood from multiple family members the subject always comes up about my grandpa. They all tell me how much he loved me and how we did everything together. Being so young at the time I can't remember any of those fun times as much as I would like to; being sixty-five also doesn't help much either. Pictures and videos are mainly what I have left to remind me of how he was back when he was alive. My mom and dad actually did something really nice for me after my grandpa died. They bought me a dog, a sheltie to be exact. This dog was the cutest little thing ever; we named her Meagan. She really helped me regain my happiness I lost due to my grandpa's death. It all went well until sometime during my childhood my dad stopped taking care of her. Once again my dad threw me through a loop. I had to go and talk to our family doctor, who was a friend of mom's. It killed me knowing that my dad didn't care even the least little bit for a dog's life. We eventually gave her up to live at my grandparents' house, my dad's parents. They took care of her until I was around twenty-three, when she died in her sleep.
In my earlier years my little brother was born. I was in fourth grade and it was a huge deal. I had prayed for a little brother for some time, but didn't expect it to be so soon, and neither did my parents. He was an average looking kid. I'm not going to say he was cute. All babies look like babies to me; not one too much cuter than another. My parents named him James Matthew Tanner Hallogan. My mom loved the name Tanner, so of course that had to go in there. I liked the names James and Matthew, since they were two of my friends in grade school. We all got a chance to name him, except for my dad. I don't think he minded at all though.
Several months after James' first birthday, my mom filed for divorce. I can't say that I was surprised; I wanted it just as bad as my mom did. My dad hadn't intensified his abuse, but had done something quite different. He started talking to women on the Internet. Not just women friends from the past, but possible dating partners. It eventually got so bad he told my mom that he had found someone in Pennsylvania that he wanted to be with. My mom told me years later why she kept up with the marriage even though it seemed doomed to failure. She didn't feel divorce was right. She wasn't raised by my grandparents to commit such an act. Although, one night God told her to look up the stairs (where my dad was on the computer talking to women no less) and said, "That's your problem." Right then and there she knew it was time to get the divorce.
It went on for quite a while. I remember that we all went to my grandma's house that first night, not sure what he might do. She had just gotten remarried to lifelong friend named Ray the year before, which ironically was my grandpa's name. He was a nice man when they first got married. He wanted to be involved in everyone's life and was a really cool guy. Just a few years afterwards though, he seemed to turn grumpy and always argumentative. My grandma had some minor skirmishes with him, but nothing ever too serious. Back to the divorce. Surprisingly we weren't disturbed that night. As time went on he moved back in with his mom and dad, my grandparents, until he finally rented a house months later. It was a long drawn out process of court cases, fighting over custody of James and me and of their belongings, but it finally ended with both mom and dad satisfied. James and I would see my dad every other weekend and would alternate holidays with him. As for much else of what each one got, I never found out, or cared much less. After thirteen years of marriage Jeff and Elly were finally separated.
I finally made it to middle school. James Monroe Middle School was the name, JMMS. That place was sure different from the school I had been to just the year before. One of the biggest differences was the people. All the kids I had just gone to elementary school with decided it was cool to act like other kids. Cussing was the norm for everyone, drugs were a new thing that everyone should try, and just the overall attitude of everyone was altered. I didn't get caught up in all the insanity of middle school like some kids did. I don't mean to make middle school out to be the worst thing in my life, because it sure wasn't. Some kids stayed smart and stuck with what they knew and didn't get involved in stuff that could harm them. I did have fun in middle school though. I learned tons of stuff and made new friends, got detention a couple times, and made some memories to say the least. The only stupid thing I did in middle school was when I broke my arm in sixth grade. I was swinging back and forth on an indoor swing of James' and it broke and I caught myself breaking my wrist in two places. That fun lasted for about three months until everything returned to normal. We all can't forget about 9-11. I was standing in front of the library when I heard about it. I didn't know what the World Trade Center was, but I never it had everyone scared. That sure was an insane time in everyone's history that no one will ever forget. Before I knew it though I was already out of that place. Just like that, JMMS seemed like a distant memory.
During my middle school years a few things changed in my life. Other than finding out about many sexual things that I never knew before, my mom got remarried. She definitely never wanted another man in life after all the stuff that had already went on. Although, God let someone straight in that was perfect for her. He was a good Christian guy that she had known but had not really known well enough to be involved with. She sang with him in the choir at the church we used to go to. His name was Dale Gibbens. He was a dark haired man, about 5'8, kind of heavy set, but an overall good guy. He cared for my mom like no one had, at least from what I had seen. He was, like I said, a singer as well as my mom. His occupation was an optician, he was good at what he did, and made a fairly good amount of money as well. When they got married we moved to a bigger house in the neighboring city of Greenville. It was a bigger city, with a lot more traffic as you notice first arriving there. I liked where we lived though. We lived in a much larger home than we had before and it was still close enough to everything we lived close to before. He had a grandson that he raised since his birth. He was a little taller than I was, a little older, and really athletic. Although, he was one grade under me you could tell that's where he needed to be. His name was Jimmy. He finished at his middle school before he attended high school with me.
Arriving at high school seemed like a distant memory finally coming alive. I got there having all these ideas of what it was going to be like and of, course it, was nothing like that. With all the things I heard about Barrwood High School, I'm glad it wasn't like that. High school was actually one of the best things in my life. I had so much fun there! That's the place where the nicknames started. At first I was kind of apprehensive to the whole nicknaming process, but I soon came to love it. Hal, Hally, Hallo, Halinator, just to name some. Eventually that's what everyone came to know me as, Hal. People saw me as the nice guy who loved to talk. Considering I won "most talkative" my senior year, which pretty much explains it. If it weren't for BHS, I wouldn't have been so talkative. I loved my high school days. I definitely can't say they were stress free, but compared to now high school was a breeze. I made some amazing friends back then too, but the best of them were Nikki Baker, Jane Saunders, and Randy Watson. Each one had their own individual ways of brightening up my day. Randy had been a good friend of mine since middle school, but Nikki and Jane weren't until high school. Back then all I cared about was my social life. Talking at school then coming right back home to talk to people on the Internet. Truthfully I was bored out my mind there for a while.
I got to go on a trip to Australia with a good teacher friend from school in the summer of '06. He took about ten kids from our school and we met up with two other groups when we got there. I had eighteen days of pure fun while I was over there. There were so many memories that came from that trip. I actually kept up with the people on that trip for many years afterwards. The same month I returned from the trip I finally met a girl. I had been looking for a girlfriend for some time from school, but all I ever got was rejected. This girl was exactly as tall as I was at the time, six feet, had long brown hair, freckles, and a set of nice lips to top it off. She was my first true love. She lived about an hour away from me and I didn't get to see her too much. She also played basketball for her school and was always busy with that. We would still keep up with each other over the phone and online. This girl seemed so perfect for me. Her name was Lori Circle. She had some weird things about her. When she came to a football game with one of my friends named Chelsie, who also introduced us, she didn't want to be held or even hold hands sometimes. It made me feel like I wasn't doing anything right. Time went on and we actually had our first kiss, my first, and her second. It really wasn't anything special like I had expected and I found out quite fast enough it sure wasn't for her either. The next day while on the phone she basically flat out told me that she didn't want to go out anymore. I tried my hardest to keep us together because I felt that with everything that was within me that we needed to be together. In the end we broke up, after about a month of dating. I was really torn up for a while; love does that to people.
I sure wasn't looking for another girlfriend after that whole experience, although God has a way of twisting things around in your life. That past summer I had went to church camp like I had done for five years previous, but this time was different. My friend Matt and I, not the elementary school friend, had tons of fun. He and I were assigned to the purple team. Each team got a country and we got Kenya. I found out the symbol for "k" in sign language was like making a peace sign and putting your thumb through it. When we did this sign we would say "Keep It Kenyan." The phrase obviously didn't have a true meaning, but it was just a fun thing to do. It eventually got to a point where everyone at camp was doing it and we thought it was hilarious.
Well on our team we had really two really outgoing girls, Lanisa and Christine. All the guys were instantly attracted to the tall, funny, and dark haired Lanisa; at least till we all found out she was only fourteen. We got smart and backed off. Christine on the other hand was like Lanisa's backup. She was fifteen, had red hair, freckles, creamy skin, and a laugh that instantly attracted anyone. I can't say I was attracted to her at first, but she kind of latched onto me. She just had something special about her that I couldn't overlook. Her personality is what made her the way she was. All the little things she did were hilarious.
After camp ended I lost touch with her for a good while. It wasn't until about the time after the breakup with Tori I started really talking to her again. As time went on a spark started to arise and we came to realize that we were crazy about each other. Asking her out wasn't hard at all. I wrote her a little poem asking her if she would be mine and she agreed; November 21, 2006 was the date. It's hard to imagine that Christine Elizabeth McNally in five short, what seemed like forever years, would be my wife. Like I already said, she was and still is amazing. I've known she was God's gift to me since day one. I wasn't sure if she was the one for me for a while, but sure enough God came through and showed me enough signs to show me that He definitely wanted me with this girl. We did so many crazy and fun things while we were going out. We laughed together, we cried together. I guess you could call it a match made in Heaven. It really helped to have our parents supporting us and not having to worry about them disliking who we were dating and each other's parents. Christine and I both wanted someone for so long to be in our lives and fill that void for love. We found it in each other.
When I was a senior I had to have open-heart surgery in Cincinnati, OH. They didn't have to open my rib cage, but they went in-between my ribs. A new procedure at the time called the Wolf Mini-maze. She kept my hopes up through the whole thing, which is just what I needed. I was quite sore for some time and finally went back to school after two and a half weeks to some very concerned friends and classmates. It's funny how people you haven't talked to in years finally decide to say hi and ask how you are in the face of a major event like my surgery. I knew I had the best girlfriend a guy could have. We talked about anything and everything. Staying up till midnight or later every night was a common occurrence. We made cute pet names for each other and the whole deal. I totally didn't mind, I personally loved just hearing her call me by those names. The only real hard thing about it was that she lived so far way away in St. John's, TN, which was about two hours away. It caused us a lot of trouble for that first year. She had her learners for a while before we met and I never got mine till I was about eighteen. We got to see each other so much more after we both got our licenses. The dates went from every few weeks to a few times a week. Even though by this time I had graduated high school still really unsure what I wanted to do with my life. I knew I wanted to go to Tennessee University, but I just had no concept of what I wanted to do.
I chose to do pre-med. I had always had the idea of doing something in the medical field but as to what, I had no clue. I remember thinking about how everyone always told me that God didn't make me go through that surgery for nothing. Then I remembered how Dr. Wolf said he ran a summer program for students that wanted to become cardiologists and possibly do the same surgery he does. Of course, if I wanted to join his program, I would have to get at least four years of college out of the way first. One day I finally set my mind to it and said, "I'm going to be a cardiologist." I enrolled myself in TU like I said I would and spent four years there and ended still with my heart set on enrolling in Dr. Wolf's program to become a cardiologist.
Through this whole time, Christine and I had really grown so much closer and talks of marriage were still looming around in our heads. Of course, it had only been four and a half years since we had been dating, but it had already felt like a lifetime. I definitely couldn't afford to get married and support a family until I was at least working and out of college. I did have a part-time job at Wendy's, but that sure won't get you enough money to live on for two people, let alone yourself. I still lived at home and I really didn't have a problem with it. It saved me a lot of money that I would have had to spend unnecessarily paying for rent somewhere else. That summer, after I graduated, I made rounds with Dr. Wolf for a few weeks to try it out. It was amazing all the things that I knew I was getting ready to learn. When I returned, I knew I had to go to Cincinnati University to be able for all this to come about. The big obstacle in this whole thing was Christine. I didn't want to leave her six hours away back in St. John's. After talking about it we both decided that everything would be perfectly fine and this was just going to be another obstacle that we would just have to overcome.
It was the fall of 2011 when I headed off to the University of Cincinnati. The place was huge and full of diversity. I wasn't much for large schools. I really enjoyed the closeness of a teacher student relationship that I sure didn't get too much of there. After several months of being that far away from everyone I had to do something, I needed Christine. It was nearing our fifth anniversary and I knew that now would be a perfect time to ask her to marry me. I had so many ideas of how I was going to do it too. On the way back towards home an idea came to mind. I would take her out to dinner for our anniversary at a really nice place and recite some fancy, but simple piece of poetry and pull out a ring and ask her to marry me. By the time I got home everyone was happy to see me once again. My monthly trips home were way too spaced out; I missed home and everything about it.
When November 21, 2011 came around, I told Christine we were going to go out to dinner and to just be ready to have fun. Lord was I nervous; it's not like you can be an expert on how to ask your girlfriend to marry you or anything. I'll tell you though; I practiced and practiced till I had everything I wanted to do down to the T. So, as the night progressed we ate and talked about how great these five years had been and just how much we loved each other. We talked about me in school and the distance and how we wished we could be closer.
Christine said, "I miss you so much Zach, you don't know how hard it's been just seeing you once a month."
I replied, "It really has been hard sweetheart, but I think I know something that will help."
She looked at me all surprised and said, "What?"
I pulled out the ring and got down on my knee and replied, "You're my morning, you're my night, and I want to be with you for the rest of my life, will you be my wife?"
With a tear in her eye and a smile on her face, she said, "Of course I will Zachary."
We had a big wedding. After six months of being engaged the date we finally chose came to, Saturday May 5, 2012. We decided upon the day together, thinking it would be just perfect for the two of us. A nice springtime wedding would be nice. Not having to worry about being cold or anything is always a plus. We had always planned on getting married five years after we starting dating. Of course we just were just young and filled our heads with wild dreams of possible futures together, but today it actually came true. With all of me and Christine's family and friends here together, the wedding was about to begin. We both were so nervous. To lighten the mood, I cracked some crazy joke about something or another and we kissed and said "Good luck" to each other and got into our places. I was on stage singing that song that I planned on doing for so long. It was called "I Knew I Loved You Before I Met You" by Savage Garden while she came up the aisle looking oh so beautiful. Dressed in a long white gown, holding flowers, accompanied by her father. The crowd quickly rose to their feet with all smiles on their faces. As Christine looked around in the crowd, she was given little grins to urge her on and wish her the best. She saw her mom, Ann, in the front row crying because she was so happy for her daughter. Then at last she looked right into my eyes and walked closer and closer till she finally arrived right into my arms.
The song ended.
The preacher came right beside us. I grabbed onto her and she grabbed onto me. She could feel the sweat from my hands and she gave me a look acknowledging that it was funny that I was so nervous. I returned it by giving her a little smirk right back. Then our attention was turned back to the preacher. After a few words he nudged his head towards me. I sly hint to start a surprise I had been planning for some time. I pulled out a piece of paper and said, "I have a few words to say before we continue."
I go on with what I believe is the best thing I have ever written to or about my soon-to-be wife. Tedious nights I spent perfecting what was on that small piece of paper. I finish it up and to my surprise as well, she has done the same. I get the biggest smile on my face just listening intently to every word; a tear starts to form in the crevice of my eye. I listened to her outline of our love and how it had changed her, molded her, and manipulated every fiber of her being. I felt as a small child would in a candy store, filled with excitement and glee. At that exact moment I thought I would break out into full-fledged crying, it was over. I gave her the biggest bear hug like she had given me so many times before. The preacher continued once again and of course got to the "I do's." We both, without any hesitation said, "I do" at our respected time. The words we had been waiting to hear for those five long years came out of the preacher's mouth.
"I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Hallogan. You may now kiss the bride," he said looking at me with a smile on his face.
Finally this moment had had arrived. The heat rose within me and butterflies were abounding. I reached out for her face and drew it closer to mine. We kissed. Every nerve fiber now tingling as though being kissed for the very first time. Electrifying is how I've always described it. It surprisingly went on for a little longer than I think everyone expected. Then the crowd suddenly gave out some "oooh's" and "ahhhh's." I drew back with a smile on my face and uncontrollable laughter. I always knew how to work up people; once again I had done it.
In this extravagant piece of architecture called St. Mary's Church of God located in Pigeon Forge, TN two hearts were changed forever. Looking around seeing the faces of the crowd, filled with friends and happy and crying faces, the shiny mahogany floors, large wooden rafters, beautiful white, pink, and purple flowers all around the stage, I realized my life would never be the same.
The reception came. Lord did we have fun there. We thanked everyone for coming out to join us on the happiest day of our lives. We all had a piece of gigantic traditional wedding cake made by a designer friend of Christine's. We got a good deal on it, which's all that mattered. I'm not tight with money, but there is no reason to senselessly spend too much money. My mom made a big thing of punch for everyone to enjoy. Well we did the only natural thing and shoved cake in each other's face. Ha, I still remember that little bit of cake that Christine got on her nose. I got it off of her, and then she gave me a small kiss and then whispered something into my ear.
She said, "I love you."
I replied with an ecstatic, "I love you too sweetheart!"
Then she asked me if I was having fun.
"Of course I am Christine," I replied.
She grinned and said; "Well you just wait till tonight mister."
Talk about sending my head spinning. She could give me a run for my money. Always making me feel that extra spark right when it was needed. That's all my mind could focus on as we continued the evening.
The scene finally simmered to a dull roar allowing us to open presents. We both stood up and told everyone to calm down because we were getting ready to open up our gifts. It seemed like it was an unending battle with paper that lasted for a good half-an-hour. Small presents, large presents, bright ones, dull ones, square ones, circular ones, were all found in front of us. The battle eventually was thought to have been won by the new married couple, but as we stood up to packing our things ready to leave, something happened. Steve, Christine's dad, stood up and proclaimed,
"Hey you crazy kids you forgot my gift!"
I turned around immediately and smiled at this man that was so eager to give me this gift. I reached out my hand to find an envelope slide gently onto it.
"Congratulations kid," he said.
I replied, "Thank you sir."
"Open it up and stop calling me sir," he retorted.
"The day you stop calling me kid, I'll stop calling you sir," I jokingly said.
He backed away a bit, ready for me to open up my gift; I followed his notion. So I opened up this white envelope ready for just about anything to come out of it. To my total shock it was two tickets for a 12-day excursion in Australia. I grabbed Steve and gave him a hug. Not knowing whether to cry or be happy, I mustered out the words,
"Thank you sir."
"No problem, it's the least I could do for you kids. You're my new son-in-law, now you two go and have fun" he said with a grin on his face.
Well as he insinuated, it was way past time for Christine and I to leave. We gathered all our gifts together and said our good-byes to our wedding guests. We made our way out of the spacious entryway that still held the slight fragrance of strawberries and cream from the punch that the ring-bearer spilled all over the carpet earlier. Surprisingly enough we arrived outside to find my car heavily decorated, with whipped cream, toilet paper, and writing all over. To my horror I saw quite interesting things on the car once I looked harder. "Don't fog up the windows"…"Go get her tiger"… "Hope you can make it to the hotel," were just a few of the things on there. No doubt that my friend Randy Watson had this scheme worked up for a good while. We got in and waved goodbye. On the way to the Best Western, we got some honks and stares. Heck, truth be told, we loved the attention. Well, we got to the hotel and all I'll say is that we had fun. No need to go into all the small details here.
We had been looking for a place to live for a while in those six months. I had been living on campus for about eight months, but now that I was married I needed to find a house. I wanted to live close to home in a city called Westwood, TN. Unfortunately we would have to wait until I got out of college. We found a really amazing house in Melbourne, KY, which was about thirty-min away from the college. We bought it as quick as we could. The moving day arrived when we packed our bags and headed out towards our new life in Melbourne. After the long six-hour road trip we finally arrived. We both stepped out of the vehicle to just catch our breath realizing this is where we were going to be living for at least three more years until I could go back to Tennessee to start my residency. We walked up the stairs and I told her to get into my arms so I could carry her across the threshold. As we walked in the door the smell of a new beginning flooded our bodies and gave us a sense of peace. Since Christine had gotten her Associate's Degree at Tennessee State College in accounting while I was in TU, she had major opportunities to find a job here. Find a job she soon did. She became an accountant for the huge City National skyscraper building. She really enjoyed it there and made a really good amount of money doing that as well.
As for me on the other hand I was doing random odd jobs around where I lived and in Cincinnati. Most of my time was spent with school and trying as hard as I could to become a cardiologist. I got to be Dr. Wolfe's P.A. After a full year I was ready to take a break. It seemed as though by the time we were settled in our new home I got an idea. I thought using those tickets to go to Australia would be a great diversion for Christine and me. We had been so bogged down in work and school for so long we were ready for a break.
In June of 2012, we packed our huge bags and left for our long awaited destination of Australia. I knew we would have fun. I had so much fun going during high school and now I had a wife to share the fun with; it went well. Her dad actually got the tickets from the same company that I went with back then as well. They had a program for college students that wanted to travel as well. I thought this would the chance of a lifetime and we didn't have to worry about getting from point A to point B in a foreign country without any assistance. Of course by the time we got there, we realized really fast that most of group only had one thing on there mind; getting drunk. Christine and I were focused on having the honeymoon that her dad wanted us to have. We did so many things over there that were amazing, to say the least. She got to experience the food and I had to re-experience it. It's really not too good, but she found it to be quite appetizing. We saw so many animals including kangaroos, koalas, and tons of animals we had never seen before. We got to go to this remote island with this immaculate waterfall that Christine and I had fun playing in for a few hours. One of the best things about the trip was lying with her under the stars and just looking at the immense amount of stars that you would never have seen even on the clearest of nights back home. We went shopping for ourselves and for souvenirs for family and friends back home. Before we knew it though our 12-day excursion in Australia was up. Getting home and readjusted to the time change was pretty crazy, but after a few days we got readjusted.
Time went on until my four years of college life was up. Finally, after eight years of schooling all I had to do was two more years of residency till I would finally become a cardiologist. Dr. Wolf had other plans for me. He wanted me to stay his P.A. for a couple more years until I could perform the mini-maze surgeries as he did. Personally I wasn't interested in becoming a cardiovascular surgeon; I just wanted to be a regular cardiologist that did things non-invasively. After much pressure to join him I told him that I had my mind set on going back home and being a cardiologist. We put our house up for sale in the spring of 2015. I was definitely ready to return back home. Our house was sold surprisingly fast and we left that summer. We actually found a really great house not too far from either of our hometowns. This place we found was called Westwood, TN. I had been looking at it before we left for Cincinnati and now it was time to move in. We still live here today, if that gives you an idea of how nice this place was. We had a nice acre of land and a white picket fence around our house. The house was made of bricks and had a chimney. It wasn't run down the least bit, it was very modern and we made it our home.
Christine found a good paying job at BB&T as the general manager of all the accountants working there. Once again she found herself a well paying job that satisfied her. I started my residency in the fall of 2015. Time seemed to vanish and yet again before I knew it my residency was over with and it was time to become a cardiologist. To celebrate I told Christine that I wanted to go on a trip. I remembered how long ago she had said she wanted to go to Scotland. She had this whole deal about herself being Scots-Irish and how she wanted to see the land of her ancestors. I had no clue how that was going to go, but I agreed to go for an adventure. We decided to stay for ten days in some fairly nice hotels. One thing was different about this trip; we winged it the whole way. No tour guides for us buddy, we were a married couple in Scotland, and we were determined to find our way around. I'm not saying we were stupid and just started driving, because of course we asked for directions from time to time. We got to explore the rich history of her ancestors that she wanted to see so badly. Monuments galore and accents that I loved to hear everyday. We stayed at some really nice hotels with amazing beds and huge pools. I can't say it was better than Australia, but it had a more of a relaxed pace, we could go when and where we wanted. Ten days seemed to come and go just like that. It was time to go back to reality.
We had so much to unpack from the trip it was crazy. I think after that trip I had a little more Scottish blood in me. I loved their accents, I didn't want to stop imitating them. After all that fun Christine stopped me and said,
"Zachary I think we might have brought an extra souvenir home."
"So what?" I replied, "We can always give it to your dad."
"Not that kind of souvenir Zach," she said.
"What the heck are you talking about?" I asked confused.
"I'm pregnant," she said with a smile.
I jumped to my feet and was ecstatic with joy. I was going to have a kid for Pete's sake. Time went on and Christine got bigger. That little wife of mine was growing and so was that bundle of joy insider her. We had to make constant trips to the doctor and find out little by little how our child was doing. One day we got to the hospital and they took the normal blood test like they had done before, but this time the results were different. She got an alpha fetal protein blood test. This test is designed to show if your child will have birth defects. If it comes back high the baby will have certain birth defects, while if it is low, Down syndrome is likely. Well Christine's test results came back high. We were so worried; we really truthfully didn't know what to do. The doctor told us to come back tomorrow and they would do an ultrasound on her. That night was church night, so we headed to church and actually had prayer for her and for everything to go right. We left from church with more peace of mind than when we came in. She asked me that night if I was worried and I told her that we had to trust in God and He would see us through this storm. I slept like a light, but Christine had a little trouble because she really didn't know what to expect the next morning.
We woke up and got ready to head out to the hospital for the ultrasound. When we got there we were welcomed with bright smiles from all the nurses. They laid her down and placed the jelly all over her enlarged belly. They started to run the machine over her and while the woman was going back and forth she suddenly stopped. She stared right at that screen. Right then and there I was prepared to hear the worst. She slowly went back and forth in the same general area, still staring intently at the black and white screen. Christine grabbed onto my hand sensing something was wrong as well. The nurse turned to us and said that was something that we should be concerned about. We asked her what it was and she replied saying that our baby didn't have birth defects but that there was another baby in there. A sigh of relief hit us until another wave of excitement and shock hit us realizing we were going to have two kids and twins at that. We found out that one was going to be a boy and the other a girl. At least we both got what we wanted.
Nine months went by and lo and behold two beautiful babies came out of Christine. The delivery went great with no problems what so ever. We named these two, Nicholas James Hallogan and Emily Marie Hallogan. I would say we were as prepared as we ever could have been. The whole beginning deal with the crying and changing diapers drove us mad for quite some time. Eventually it got easier as they got older. They went to school and grew up really happy kids. We helped them in their God-centered lives and God made them who he wanted them to be. My life with my amazing wife who stood beside me through thick and thin and who I loved in return so much. I remember a hard thing I had to go through right after our twenty-third wedding anniversary, I was forty-six and she was forty-four. I was driving to pick up the kids from school one day with Christine. It was a rainy day with the roads being pretty slick. As I was driving along I pulled up to an intersection. The light flashed green and I pulled out then as I look to my right I see a Hummer going God knows how fast right towards my passenger side. I swerved to avoid him, but the next thing I knew I woke up sore as crap, looking around trying to figure out what had happened. I had a few cuts and scraps, but nothing too bad. Then I thought to myself, oh no what about Christine. As I looked over to see how she was. You could see the blood running down her head in every direction. I was so scared. She was unconscious and non-responsive to my touch. Within moments I heard an ambulance pull up. They pulled us out of the car and started to patch me up.
I kept telling them I wanted to see my wife and that I was fine. They told me that everything was going to be ok and that Christine would be transferred to the hospital ASAP. Surprisingly they drove me to the hospital where Christine was and said I only had one condition. That condition was if I got checked out after finding her. I agreed and thanked them for everything. Once I got inside, I ran immediately into a hospital that I knew so familiar and met a familiar face at the desk. She asked me what was wrong and I briefly explained the situation and she let me to find my wife. By this time, I had realized that I was hurt a bit worse that I first believed. I think I might have broken my leg, but I couldn't be concerned with it until I found my wife. I made it up to CCU where she was lying there looking terrible. She slowly turned her head towards mine and began to speak. I told her just as fast to not talk and everything would be ok and that I was here and not going to leave her. She laid her head back down on the pillow and quietly said the words, "I love you." I kissed her bruised body and sat in the chair beside the bed all night. I watched her vitals on the monitor all night concerned for my wife. The love of my life lying here on this bed looking so pitiful it was hard to see. I walked down the hall for a minute to collect myself. I finally found a spot and knelt to pray. I asked God to keep her safe and protect her from possible infection that could set in.
I decided it would be a good time to hold up my end of the bargain. I went down to the ER and had them check me out. Sure enough I had broken my Tibia. Just a hairline, but it sure didn't feel good. They didn't have to place the bone or anything, but they did give me a cast and set me up ready to go. I started back on my way towards Christine, by this time it was morning. When I arrived she was moving a lot better. She was more alert than the night before. If you think about it getting shot up with Morphine, it will do that to you. I know what that's like. She was already proclaiming that she was healthy enough to leave and wanted to go. She was one lucky angel. Besides from all the cuts and scrapes she had broken her radius in her arm, her scapula in her shoulder, and one of her fingers. Getting hit with a hummer and having those injuries; shoot I'd take that any day. After two more days in the hospital she was finally released.
That time in my life scared the living crap out of me. I had been with this woman for twenty-three years and I wasn't about to let her go then. Writing this story has really helped me look back and realize what an amazing life I have lived. Like I said, I'm sixty-five years old and still have my beautiful sixty-three years old wife, who I have grown to love more and more each day. After forty-two years of marriage, I think I would know how to do something right. I've left everyone clueless to something very important in the writing of this. I am scheduled to have a surgery on my heart fairly soon. Being a cardiologist for thirty-five years before retiring I know my prognosis isn't very good. Everyone knows those biggie fries will come back to haunt you and, well, I'm living proof of that. I had a heart attack a few months back and they discovered that I had CHF, like I said. They also found that I had a few clogged arteries around my heart. They are going to have to place a total of four stints in my heart; Quadruple bypass surgery. I'm prepared to meet God and I know he planned my whole life out for me. Without ever having a problem with my heart in the first place I never would have met Dr. Wolf and became a general cardiologist. Without Christine I never would have lasted past fifty. She made my life worth living and God gave her to me when I was only--
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When my husband was only seventeen. It was so long ago, yet seems only like yesterday. You are probably just a little curious as to what has happened that I, Christine, am now writing and not Zach. Zachary Mark Hallogan's journey in this life has come to a close. He is now where every soul longs to be, up in paradise singing praises to the Almighty God. It is true that most look upon death as a horrifying occurrence, but not to my Zach. Death is just the final end to our separation from our loving creator. When the time is right I too shall be joining Zachary, to stand by his side for all eternity.
I had promised Zach that I would finish his life story if God should call him home before he was finished. So in conclusion, He has two amazing kids that have grown up, moved away, married, and given him grandchildren. God has been there with him through all the good and bad times. Zachary Mark Hallogan had all his dreams come true and has written about most every one of them for you to enjoy and see how God can take a regular person and make his life extraordinary. Zach did the best thing any man could do. He lived.
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With a bittersweet tear in Christine's eye as she wrote the last word, her mind wandered back to all the happy times they had shared, and was thankful that God had blessed them with such a good life together.
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Well congrats on finishing the story..lol..hope you enjoyed it...uhh...I have to first thank Sara for really helping me write this. She actually the very first line and the very last line. Also have to thank Stace my cuz! Please comment...tell if u either see anything wrong with it or if u liked it or whatever...bye!