Prelude…
Sitting on the porch, I watched him walk up the shoreline with all the kids, our children and our friends' children. For the last couple of years we had all come up here to enjoy the summer. He and the other fathers were playing in the surf with all the children while the mothers and I were shucking corn for dinner.
It was the summer of 2012, 20 years since I had met him and my life had changed. I couldn't believe where life had taken me. It had not been easy as we both had demons to concur during this journey. Looking at him in the surf holding youngest my heart melted a little. I feel happiness radiate through me, the kind that only happened when you were perfectly content. While the first twenty had been a challenge, I did know I couldn't wait to see where the next twenty would take me. He looked up and caught me watching him. Smirking he winked me, to let me I had been found out. I didn't mind – I lifted up my sunglasses and winked back.