Becky has accomplished more in the last few years than most normal people accomplish in their whole life. She is young, educated, a homeowner, and has COMMON SENSE-which if I may say is a rare commodity in this ever changing and ever numb world.
I want more than anything to protect Becky from any pain, yet she has covered that also. And now, having had her share of the assholes, and the bad boys, and the people who took advantage of her incredible sense of duty and ability to love, found a man that I think she will find her everafter with. Hatch, you�re a good man, take care of our Becky�..she deserves only the best of anything you will ever imagine giving her.
As for you Becky, what can I say? You have been a sister, a friend, a psychiatrist�..since I often need one! You are family, you will always be loved and cherished by me and all of the Thomas, Bradys, Steinhoffs, and whoever else shall come along. You are loved for you, being normal is over-rated anyway!
CHARLIE
I don�t even know where to begin with Charlie. We have a relationship that few understand. We have loved each other forever. He is one of the people I turn to when I need someone who gets me, who has known my soul, my heart, and my life. He is the first man I think I truly loved..ever. Enough to plan a wedding�enough to feel like dying over when he told me he was gay. Yes, you heard me.
I was so angry for so long. I was self destructive, self righteous, and self seeking. I was humiliated and hurt. Everyone warned me, I never listen to �everyone� anyway. Most of all, I was brokenhearted. I couldn�t stand the sight of him, cringed when I heard his voice�cried when I found something of mine that still smelled like him. I felt like he had sucked me into a lie, that he never loved me, that he had made a fool of me. I could barely face my father in my sorrow and degradation.
Then, when Charlie�s father died, he called me. No, more than that. I had moved 250 miles away and he called everyone I knew and found me at a friends house visiting because he needed me when his father died. I think it was that moment I figured it out. He loved me. He needed me. He would never leave me. After all the terrible things I said to him and about him, our lives were still twisted and twined together. I sat and listened, still amazed in my realization. I felt heartbreak for him, love, and I cried tears for him. I comforted him, I did all I could to just be there. My god, the change in our relationship was amazing. OK, maybe not that. It was my anger. It lifted and went away in about 10 seconds. It was just gone. He reached for me and I reveled in it. More than just that. I knew I needed him. I knew that gay or not, I would always love him. Always be IN love with him. That one way or another I would grow old with this man.
So here we are Charlie. Over a decade and a half later. Still in love. Still growing, and growing old. You have never wavered in your feelings. You never let go of me, even though I struggled against you, against the world. You have been there through all my states of being. I have something inside me for you that is stronger than love. I can�t find a word for it..not one exists. I know we both wonder sometimes, what it would have been like�if you had never told me. I don�t think I would have come this far and still loved you, to be honest. I love you now for who you are. As you love me for who I am. If we had hid that from each other all those years ago, we could have never reached this place. I owe you more than you will ever know. I will be here for you an eternity and then some. In simplest terms, and you know what it means coming from me�..I love you , Char.
