Well, it’s Wednesday so it’s time to add to our collaborative community story.

We’re following a flashback of our main character, Samantha. The story thus far is on the blog under “Story.”

Here’s where we left off.

Chad said, “Sure we are.” It all turned out fine … just don’t ask me how…

We managed to get some of the work done around the house. Chad was a good engineer, but not as handy with a hammer or screwdriver. Still, he had a patio poured — it had a slight pitch, okay, a marble would roll right off it — and he did finish a room in the basement — okay, it had a gaping hole in the closet and he never did find his hammer after putting up the wallboard. I always teased him about being able to design detailed plans, but not being able to follow them. I sure was glad he was designing and not building projects for the U.S. Air Force!

We finally got the fireplace we had to scrub when the house was built and my forsythia twigs matured into a vibrant break on the edge of our property line. We even got a puppy … a playful Irish setter named Harrigan who fit right in with the family.

Chad spent a lot of time with the kids. He taught JR how to fish, usually with Kate-D tugging at his pant leg pleading, “Can I go too, daddy? Please!” One day I came home from shopping and found Chad sitting on the floor “drinking” tea with his four year old daughter. And there was Little League and Brownies and “boys weekends” and dance recitals.

And, like he did when we were dating, he listened patiently to my words and my heart. He gave me his prime time, not the leftovers. He praised me. He surprised me. He continued to court me. He treated me like a queen in front of other people.

Even though we were a military family, it still seemed normal. Since he worked on projects with mostly civilian engineers, there weren’t many “Air Force” rules to deal with. He had most weekends and holidays off.

But there was that time in 1986. He and his team had to go to Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs to integrate their portion of a satellite monitoring project with other teams from around the country. It was supposed to be about a six week assignment that dragged to over six months. We missed Thanksgiving and it looked like we were going to miss Christmas as well.

Somehow, he found a friend of a friend of a friend who couldn’t use their condo in Aspen over the Christmas holidays. He called and asked me if I wanted to celebrate Christmas in Colorado. I had about a million reasons why we shouldn’t, but I sure did miss him and I knew the kids did too. We thought about flying, but I decided to drive the three days and 1,200 miles with a five and eight year old. It was quite an adventure, navigating unpredictable weather and trying to keep JR and Kate-D occupied. But it was worth it.

Chad brought a Christmas tree and had it decorated when we arrived. We spent our days skiing and sledding and building snowmen. We drank gallons of hot chocolate. We not only celebrated Christmas but JR’s and Kate-D’s birthdays. At night after the kids were settled in, we snuggled in front of the fireplace … and then some. It was like a second honeymoon…

There you go, readers. What’s next?

All you have to do is put down your thoughts and get them to me. You can post your ideas as comments on the blog – but remember everyone will see them, so the “surprise” factor might get lost – or you can e-mail me directly at revblt@rochester.rr.com. Each Wednesday I will continue the story on the blog, along with that week’s attribution and periodically update Reveille/Between the Lakes readers. The complete story thus far is available on the blog under “Story.”

I hope we can have some fun with this.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: The human mind, when stretched with a new idea, never returns to its old dimensions.
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