Let's try this again...lol SORRY!

I don't know what this is...besides short and sweet...I was annoyed with Ali for being such a brat to Henry the other week and then on Sunday the stuff about Elizabeth's parents...my husband and I somehow got to talking about what we would have done if we lost our parents at young ages and then I couldn't stop thinking about how awful it would have been not to have my Dad there to walk me down the aisle at our wedding and...well, this was me processing all of this and going...somewhere...with it. I hope it's enjoyable. Thanks for reading.

"Alison, first of all, you can't speak to your Dad like that. He's your Dad, he has a right to ask questions about your life and your choices." Elizabeth had let Ali cool down and then headed upstairs to talk down her middle child.

Alison opened up her mouth to protest but Elizabeth held up her hand and stopped her.

"Do you know how sneaking in after spending the night with someone would have gone for your Dad or me?" She continued, "Not well. We're allowing you to live your own life and make your own choices, all we ask is you listen to our advice and treat us like you respect us."

"But he..." Alison started, but Elizabeth cut her off again.

"He did nothing but inquire about your life. You don't have to follow his advice, just respect that he's allowed to give it. Alison, how many of your friends have parents who would be as cool about you casually sneaking back into the house after you spend the night with a boy? Not a lot of them, I bet. I know it's weird to live at home in college but this was your choice. We are trying to support you but you can't just treat us like we're roommates. And your Dad is a lot more open-minded than you give him credit for and that's not fair because you know better. Yes, sometimes he jumps to being protective but that's because he's your Dad. It would be more concerning if he didn't. He just tried to talk to you and you freaked out on him."

Alison rolled her eyes but Elizabeth chose to ignore it. "You guys are so traditional, you wouldn't understand."

Elizabeth laughed and crossed her arms across her chest as she leaned against the doorway, "Do you really think we're that traditional? We eloped the week after we got engaged. We woke up in our bed and just decided to get married. That's not exactly traditional."

Ali shrugged, "it's just eloping, lots of people do it."

"Back then they didn't and they certainly didn't just wake up and decide to do it right then and there."

Alison sat there for a moment, chewing on what her mother had told her. She looked up at her, "How did you decide to elope? You've never really told us."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, "You want the unfiltered version?"

Ali cringed, "Yeah, just don't be gross."

Elizabeth laughed as she walked over to Ali's bed and sat down, "Okay."

"Well, you know your Dad broke up with me for three days and I didn't know it then but now I know it was because he panicked about the future and his impending deployment and he felt guilty for leaving me all alone and didn't want me to feel tied down or trapped. But he came back three days later and told me it was the biggest mistake of his life and he couldn't live without me and he'd spend every day of his life trying to prove it to me." She blushed, she still found herself getting butterflies at the memory of his adorably fumbled proposal, "Obviously I forgave him and said yes, otherwise you wouldn't exist. But we were so young and scared and had the world on our shoulders. I don't blame him for a moment of confusion. So, we basically spent the entire week...making up...in our apartment and on Friday morning we woke up and were talking about the wedding and it hit me that even though I had this perfect guy that our wedding was never going to be everything I wanted because my parents couldn't be there. So he turned to me and asked me if I'd marry him that day. I thought he was joking but when I realized he was serious I also realized it felt right. It wasn't about the wedding for us, it was about the marriage, about becoming each other's family."

"Yeah, but you don't have to be married to be family."

"You're completely right, but your Dad was in the military and we had to be legally married for them to recognize me as his partner. So we went to the store and we bought a dress and a tux and we went to the courthouse and got married. We danced in the parking lot and ate diner pie for our cake. It was perfect."

Alison couldn't help but smile at the grin on her mother's face. "I think I get so mad at Dad sometimes because I feel like he's established these impossible standards and it's easier for me to get angry with him and find his faults than to admit that I'm never going to find anyone like him."

"Oh sweetheart, that's not true. Your Dad is one of a kind, but there are lots of other great guys out there."

Alison scoffed, "If there are, I certainly haven't met any of them."

"Sometimes you just have to stop looking and let it happen. You're young, you have a lot of time."

Alison glared at her mother, "You literally met Dad when you were a year younger than I am now."

"Well I wasn't looking for a committed relationship. It just happened that way. I fought my feelings for your Dad at first."

"Yeah, Dad always says that it was love at first sight for him, why wasn't it the same for you and how and when did you know that he was the one?"

Elizabeth smiled, "I think it was love at first sight for me as well, I was just too terrified to admit it. So terrified that I actually tried to avoid him for a little while. He was very persistent and understanding. He didn't know that I had lost my parents but he obviously sensed that there was something holding me back and he really respected that. He kept asking me out but I never felt pressured or suffocated by it. He just kept showing up for me, even if I couldn't bring myself to do it. And it took me a couple weeks but I finally came to my senses and realized maybe he was worth the potential heartbreak. I think I was so conflicted because what I felt for him the first time we met was unlike anything else I had ever felt and that scared me. I'd had boyfriends before but I could always see and end point and that was okay. With your Dad I just...I looked at him and I just knew that if it ever ended I would be devasted. I was so young and it felt like I was meeting him too early and because of that we wouldn't have a real shot."

"But you did and you got married really young and you're still together. You obviously did something right."

"Alison, what we do is wake up every morning and decide to make it work. That's it. I could be so angry at your Dad and he's still the only person I want to talk to about it. He's my best friend and the best person I've ever known. I don't know what I would do without him." She wrapped her arm around Ali and let her snuggle up to her side. She hoped any of what she had said was of some comfort to her daughter.

"I really want to feel that way about someone someday."

Elizabeth kissed her daughter on the top of her head, "You will, sweetheart. I know it."

Is anyone else freezing down to their bones?! I grew up in Chicago but, damn…the East Coast is killing me! NYC has even been about 20 degrees warmer than Vermont last week and I'm still freezing! I'm happy to be heading back to CA tomorrow night! Anyway, thank you so much for reading and please leave me a review!