Lessons Learned

Jenna wiped the sleep from her eyes as the early morning Texas sun beat through her window into her bedroom, bathing everything in light. She slowly made her way out of bed and donned her thinning and slightly holey bath robe before walking out onto her front porch to enjoy the sunshine. She always loved the way the morning sun gently warmed her skin, knowing that by noon it would be sweltering, but she wouldn't have it any other way. She had always lived in Texas, and as far as she was concerned she always would. That was one of the main breaking points in her marriage. He ex husband had wanted to move to California to chase his dreams of being a musician, which she was fine with, but had wanted him to wait just one year for their youngest son to finish his Senior year in high school. He had refused to wait, which resulted in him being served his walking papers. She refused to live with someone who didn't put their children first. That had been three years ago, now. It was hard for her to imagine that it'd been so long.

As she sat in the old rocking chair on her front porch, she began reminiscing about the past and wondering if she had made the right decision. He boys had seemed to understand and be fine with it, not blaming either parent, just chalking it up to the way things worked out sometimes. Her two sons were very level headed and amazingly understanding. She couldn't believe that her babies were now 21 and 22 years old. She felt a single tear slip down her cheek as she was lost in thought of them both as babies, taking their first steps, their first words, even their first T-ball games. She was so lost in her thought that she didn't notice the screen door behind her open and shut, or a tall muscular frame sit in the chair next to her. "Hey Mom, I brought you a cup of coffee. I figured you could use it." She was snapped out of her reverie as she heard the sound of her oldest son's voice. "Thank you, Carlin. You've always looked out for me sweetie" She said as she reached over and gently ruffled his hair. "I didn't expect you boys home until this afternoon. Where's your brother?" Carlin just grinned that crooked grin of his and looked back at his mother, "Well Mom we came in late last night and didn't want to wake you up. We figured we would take you shopping before the meeting with our instructors tonight, and Jason should be coming out shortly. He was in the shower when I came out." Jenna just stared back out at the rising sun. She had completely forgotten about the meeting that evening with her sons' instructors. Both of her sons had graduated high school and gone straight into a wrestling academy in San Antonio that was run by none other that The Heart Break Kid Shawn Michaels. She was beyond nervous about meeting the man, but even more nervous about what he'd have to say on her sons' progress in his academy. She had gone to a few of their matches when they would perform in small venues around the town, usually too busy with work to make the trip from Bandera to San Antonio too often. She was a novelist and whenever the muse beckoned her to write, she could not ignore it. Currently the muse had gone into hiding in some deep dark place, never to be heard form again. She had a deadline to meet, and no inspiration what so ever.

Standing up slowly she put all of that to the back of her mind. Her main focus today was her sons. She just wanted to make the best impression she could as not to embarrass them or hurt their chances at the academy. Just as she was about to make her way out the door, her youngest son, Jason made his way out the door, took the coffee cup from her hand and drained it in one gulp. "Thanks Mom I needed that." Jenna just laughed as she took in the sight of her two sons. They were both tall, strongly built boys, men now she corrected herself. Both of them stood over 6 ft tall, Jason just slightly taller than his older brother. Carlin stood at 6 ft 4 and 285 pounds of pure muscle, where as Jason stood at 6 ft 6 300 pounds of muscle. She couldn't believe how fast they had grown from cute little boys into handsome young men. Both grinning at their mother with their mischievous grins and twinkling eyes, Carlin's were a deep chocolate brown and Jason's were a sparkling Jade green. Both of her sons and full heads of sandy brown hair, with hints of red. Where they got the hair color from she still wondered, as her and her ex both had dark brown almost black hair. She snapped herself out of her thoughts and went over to wrap her arms around her two sons, " I love you boys. Now let me go get a shower so we can get to shopping before it gets too late. Don't want to be late tonight, now do we?" Jason and Carlin both rolled their eyes and groaned as their mother walked back into the house. "Mom! It's only 9 in the morning! We have 10 hours before we have to be there. Don't you think you're getting a little ahead of yourself." Carlin just chuckled as he heard his mothers reply from inside the house, "It's better to be an hour early than to be 10 minutes late." The boys both went back into the house to get dressed and ready for the day, leaving Jenna to get herself ready. They were both looking forward to spending time with their mother, as they hadn't been able to see her much in the last 2 years. They had both had a long talk on the drive to their mother's house, both deciding that it was high time that their mother started dating again. It had been almost 3 ½ years since her and their father had gotten divorced, and she hadn't been on one single date, always making excuses as to why she was too busy. Well they weren't going to let her out of this one, with the help of their instructor, Shawn, they had a plan all worked out. Now they just had to make sure that mother was dressed to kill and kept that beautiful smile on her face.

While the boys conspired with Shawn via phone, Jenna was upstairs getting ready to go out shopping. It had been forever since she had gone shopping for anything for herself. She never bought anything unless she absolutely needed it, knowing her two sons could use things far more than she could. Whenever she shopped it was for her sons, new shirts, new appliances for their apartment, even the odd little trinket that she thought they would like, but never anything for herself, other than a chocolate bar every now and then. The boys had both stressed to her today, and the shopping was about HER, not them. They wanted her to pamper herself, from clothes, to shoes and even a make over if she wanted it. They were saying it was her early mother's day present, but she had a feeling they had something up her sleeve. Her mind continued to wander as she stepped into the steaming shower. She was so nervous about this evening that she almost can canceled several times, but she knew that would break her heart. She would do anything for her two sons, therefore she was going to suck it up and go with it. She just couldn't believe that she was going to be meeting THE Shawn Michaels this evening, she had had a crush on that man since she was 14 years old, and to be honest, she STILL had a slight crush on him. After all, who wouldn't with those twinkling eyes and that gorgeous smile. She had always been a fan of wrestling and had been ecstatic when both of her sons had decided to get into the business.

Twenty minutes later, with her body cleaned and dried and her mind finally cleared she walked to her kitchen dressed in pair of tight light blue jeans and Harley Davidson tank top, with her long wavy hair tied into a low tail. She even had to admit, that for a 40 year old woman, she looked pretty damn good. She was a petite woman, about 5 ft tall and not overly heavy but not skinny either. Her best friends Krysta and Greg always said she wasn't chunky, she was curvacious. She usually disagreed with them, but looking in the hall mirror, she started to see what they saw. For once she wasn't ashamed of what looked back at her, "Maybe today will be a good day after all," She thought to herself. She walked down the hall into her kitchen, greeted by the sight of Carlin flipping pancakes and Jason taking hot bacon out of the pan. She smiled, knowing she was lucky they hadn't burned the house down. Her sons could barely boil water without burning it. She sat at the kitchen table, drinking another cup of coffee and watched her two sons move around the kitchen, as gracefully as two bulls in a china cabinet. They definitely got their clumsiness from her. Fifteen minutes and 3 broken dishes later, they all sat down to eat their breakfast before heading out. Jenna was silent and contemplating the day, as both boys exchanged covert glances, knowing what they had in store for their mother later that day.

Later that afternoon found all three of them in the local mall, the boys rather exasperated with their mother, as she had been to almost every store and still had not found anything that she thought would fit the evening. The boys had both found their outfits for the evening within thirty minutes of being in the mall, and after 2 hours of going from store to store with their mother, they were starting to get exhausted. "Mom, how long is thing going to take? It's not prom or any shit like that! It's just dinner in a damn pub! Pick something and let's go!" Jason huffed as his mother made her way to yet another store. "Jason Michael Farrell watch your mouth! I will be done as soon as I find the right outfit. I don't want to embarrass y'all or myself in front of Mr. Michaels tonight. So you just hush and go get us a drink from the food court. Hopefully by the time you get back, I'll be ready to go." She snapped as she walked into about the 30th store, sighing as her son stomped off down the mall, headed for the food court. She was beginning to lose hope that she would find anything she liked, when finally she spotted a pair of slim fitting black slacks, with a chain belt around the waist. She quickly grabbed a pair of the pants in her size, and began searching for a shirt that would fit with the pants perfectly. She began digging through the racks when she her Carlin call out to her, "Mom, I found it! I found the perfect shirt!" She began walking over towards him and was nearly knocked over as he barreled around the corner. In one hand he held a pink and black satin shirt, and in the other he held a cropped black leather jacket. "Here Mom, this with those pants will make the perfect look for you. You'll look amazing and have all the guys after you" He said with a wink. She gently smacked him on his arm and took the shirt and jacket from him, going to the dressing room to try it all on. Once she had the outfit on she slowly turned to look in the full length mirror and had to admit, it did fit her perfectly. It was classy yet still fit her personality. It was a mix between classy and rebellious and she loved it. She quickly changed back into her tank top and jean, and exited the dressing room to pay. They then left the store, Jenna dragging Carlin to the western wear store next door for a pair of boots to go with her outfit. She never wore anything but boots, except the occasional pair of flip flops. As they were entering the shop, Jason walked up, arms loaded with drinks and snacks for them all, his eyes bright as he noticed the bags in his brothers hands, "Mom, FINALLY! You found something! Hell has frozen over!" Jenna glared at him over her shoulder, still walking into the store, "Yes Jason Michael! I Did find something, and you have been warned for the last time, WATCH YOUR MOUTH!" She walked away into the store, leaving Jason standing there with his mouth agape and eyes wide. He simply shut his mouth and walked into the store, knowing better than to push his mother any further or keep her from her one obsession, boots.

Jenna walked the isles of the boot store, absentmindedly, wondering if she should go with a western boot, or more of a dress boot, when suddenly she bumped into something very firm and very warm. She slowly looked up, her head bent all the way up to meet the face of the wall, no, person she bumped into. She immediately blushed apologizing, "I'm so sorry sir, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." She immediately averted her eyes from his sunglasses shielded eyes. The man chuckled softly, looking down at this petite beauty, and petite was putting it mildly. If he had to guess, he would put her at maybe 5 feet tall, practically tiny compared to his almost 6 ft 10 inch frame. "No problem, Darlin'. No harm done." He then glanced at the two pairs of boots in her hands, one black and dark pink wingtipped boots with a pointed western toe. The other was a deep mahogany with cream accents. He pointed at the black and pink boots, "I'd go with the black ones, Darlin'. They suit ya." He then tipped his sunglasses at her slightly and turned to walk away.

The man then walked out of the western store with his purchases, still chuckling softly. He couldn't get the thoughts of that woman out of his head. He also wondered who she was, as he recognized the two young men with her as student's of Shawn Michaels. He'd have to ask his friend when he saw him again.

Jenna just stood there, staring after him. He looked oddly familiar, but she couldn't place him. His tall well built frame, and long red hair tied into a braid, she knew that she knew him from somewhere but just couldn't figure it out. She shook those thoughts from her head and simply walked out of the store to join her sons. They both watched her silently as they all walked out to the car, both wondering if she had any idea who she had literally just bumped into. Carlin looked over at Jason and just shrugged, squeezing into his mother's tiny Chevy Cobalt. She made enough money to have a better car, but refused to blow it on things that weren't needed as far as she was concerned. They made the ride home in silence, all wondering how that evening was going to play out.