I woke up to a face full of hair blocking my view so I gently pushed away the locks and kissed Tyson on his cheek. His huge arm wrapped around me to pull me close for him to give me a kiss as he rubbed my backside.
"Good morning," I whispered once I was able to gasp for air. When Tyson gave me a kiss, he gave KISSES. Loveable, sloppy, and endearing kisses. "Ah, I'm being attacked by the kissing monster!"
"Good morning, buttercup. I'm gonna brush my teeth."
"Yeah, you do that!"
"Kiss my ass."
"I'll kick your ass instead."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Tyson got up from bed, slipped on a tank top and some shorts, and headed into the bathroom.
I got up to slip on something comfortable myself when Tyra, with Timmy right behind her, came in to lie in bed underneath the covers.
"Good morning to you, too," I said to her.
Timmy jumped on the edge of the bed and curled up to nap for a bit. I laid back down beside my baby to see how she was feeling.
"You want some oatmeal?" I asked her.
"Yes," she said. "Mommy, monsters in my room!"
Oh dear, she had another bad dream about monsters with two heads again.
"You want me and Daddy to go get the monster?"
"I want Daddy. Daddy!"
Tyson stuck his head out from behind the bathroom door as he brushed his teeth.
"Hmm?"
"Monster in my room!"
"I'll go get him!" Tyson muffled while brushing his teeth. .
"That bad monster gotta go," I told Tyra. "Bad monster has Mommy mad. Show me where he is."
Tyra jumped onto the floor, grabbed my hand, and took me directly into her closet to find the monster. Tyson soon joined me in the closet as he pretended to search for the monster and began talking out loud.
"I don't appreciate you scary my baby, you big stupid monster. You better leave her alone or I'll be very upset with you and I'll kick your butt! Me and her Mommy aren't going to tolerate you being in here or in Tyra's dreams."
Tyra, who had been standing outside of the closet, poked her head in, and looked up at us with a slight weary look on her face.
"It gone?" she asked quietly.
"Yes. It ran away and it won't bother you anymore," I said.
"Okay." She extended her arms out to Tyson for him to pick her up and she hugged his neck tightly. "Thank you, Daddy. Thank you, Mommy."
"You're welcome, little one. You want your usual oatmeal?"
"Yes," she replied.
I went to wake up T.J. who was still asleep in his bed but once he saw me he perked up.
"Good morning, Mommy," he said.
"Good morning, little one. Sorry to wake you but it's time to eat."
"Okay. Where's Daddy?"
"Him, Tyra, and Timmy are in the kitchen waiting for you."
He quickly slid out of bed and darted to the kitchen so he could take his place at the table. Tyson made the oatmeal, coffee for us, and poured orange juice for the kids and brought the drinks to the table. We enjoyed breakfast but towards the end Tyson decided to be silly and stuck two chopsticks in his nostrils and pretended to be a walrus which made the kids laugh hysterically but I was confused as to when he snuck chopsticks to the table. I had to let out a laugh myself as the laughter from the kids and Tyson were hilarious. Timmy stuck his head up from his bowl, meowed loudly, and then resumed eating his own breakfast.
"You know where we're going to go later?" Tyson said to the kids.
"Where are we going?" T.J. asked.
"To the zoo. I know you guys love elephants so we're going to go see them again today," Tyson said.
The kids whooped and cheered loudly as they hopped down from their seats and ran back to their rooms to get ready for the day. I grabbed the bowls from the table and placed them in the washing machine then started it up and turned around only to see Tyson standing directly in front of me. He put his arm around my waist, kissed me on my lips, and gave me a warm smile that was melting my heart right then and there.
"You know what else I was thinking?" he said. "We should renew our wedding vows next year."
"Tyson, we haven't been married for at least five years though…"
"That's okay. I just want to renew them, if that's okay?"
"I'm not objecting. I just didn't expect you to want to renew the vows so quickly."
"I finally have the time and freedom to do whatever I want and I'm not going to waste a single moment."
We embraced for a second until Tyson swooped me up off my feet to carry me down the hallway.
"Don't make me hit my head!" I said.
"Your head isn't that big," he remarked.
"I'm gonna kick your ass."
"Go for it."
The kids were amazed to see the hippos lounging in the water who were not paying attention to any human at all. T.J. never took his eyes off the hippo as I don't think he ever got to see a hippo in the flesh before until now.
"Daddy, why the hippo big?" he asked.
"Because it's one of the largest animals to ever grace the planet. It's a huge and big powerful creature but also pretty," Tyson responded.
"Mommy, you like it?" Tyra asked me.
"Of course! I love hippos," I said. "I still have a hippo bracelet Daddy gave me a long time ago." I stuck out my wrist to show the kids the bracelet that I've held onto for many years.
"Pretty!" T.J. said.
"You kept the bracelet after all these years?" Tyson asked me.
"Of course. I wasn't going to get rid of anything you gave me."
"What else have you kept?"
"You'll see later on tonight."
"We're gonna take a trip down memory lane huh? I'm all for it."
"Just don't get snatched up by an animal here before we leave," I joked.
"Nonsense! Hey kids: do you want to see some gorillas?" Tyson asked them.
"Yes!"
We held the kid's hands as we took them over to where the gorillas were eating and minding their own business when we arrived to take in the sight of them. One happened to spot the kids and slowly approached the glass that separated them from the humans. Tyra and T.J. were amazed at the gorilla approaching and sitting directly in front of them and they started to wave at it. When it waved back, the kids jumped up and down with joy and I recorded the entire encounter. The kids asked Tyson about the gorilla and he began to explain to them why the gorillas had the beautiful fur they did and why they always stick together as a family.
The day turned out wonderful and no one was snatched up by an animal BUT Tyson was almost attacked by a peacock that had snuck up behind him as we were leaving the zoo. He happened to stop to tie his shoe, saw the bird stand right next to him to stick out its wings, and jumped up with the quickness to step away from it. I made SURE to get that on camera so I could laugh hysterically about that later which earned me a glare from Tyson but I didn't care one bit because me and the kids were laughing and having fun. Tyson ended up laughing himself as he couldn't help but laugh at what had happened because it was indeed funny.
Taking a trip to the zoo reignited a lot of good memories me and Tyson created together. What he actually didn't know was that I kept everything he gave me in a suitcase to symbolize that no matter where I go, my memories go with me. I didn't have a safe when I was a kid but I decided to get creative and come up with the concept of my memories always traveling with me whenever I went somewhere. Among the items in the suitcase were photos I had were of me and Tyson as kids, my photoshoots I did while pregnant with T.J. and Tyra, gifts that he gave me for my birthday, christmas, and gifts he gave me simply because he wanted to. We sat in the middle of the floor by the vinyl player as we listened to some music while reminiscing about our childhood.
"Wow...you look so gorgeous in these photos. And my sister took these of you?" Tyson asked me.
"Yes. These were extra photos I decided to take because I really wanted to do that. At first, I felt fat and ugly but the more photos your sister took of me, the less ugly I felt and soon I was very comfortable with myself."
"You always looked terrific," Tyson said. "What other photos do you have?"
"The photo Don took of us when we were celebrating your eleventh birthday. It was the year when I first moved into the neighborhood," I said. I handed him the photo and saw a huge grin come over his face as he remembered the first birthday he had celebrated with me.
"This is right before you slammed my face into my piece of cake!"
"It was a very fun day. That's also the day you gave me my first kiss."
"Oh...yeah, you're right. These memories are giving me goosebumps...it seems like just yesterday I first met you and you became my best friend. You're honestly the first real friend I thought I had in ages…"
"And now I'm your wife and we have two kids together," I said.
"Wild how that worked out," Tyson said.
"Here's a ring that you gave me." I opened a ziploc bag where I had jewelry in it and took out a ring that Tyson gifted me. It was a small ring with a fake pearl on it that he had won out of the machine where you try to win prizes. "We were at a pizza place that we went to after your parents took us to the movies and you won this for me."
"This just reminded me: my mom has almost everything of mine from when I was a kid until I became a teenager. I need to visit her to find my own collection of memories ASAP."
I scooted next to Tyson and laid my head on his shoulder.
"We're going to spend our time together reminiscing about the good days and creating new memories for us, huh?"
"Of course. I didn't know a trip to the zoo would mean we would be sitting here going through a good stash of memories but here we are. This makes me very happy."
"I'm glad," I said. "What's on the agenda for tomorrow?"
"Whatever you and the kids want to do. I'm just going to go along for the awesome ride."
"Fantastic."
Me and Tyson shared a long passionate kiss with each other as the music continued to play in the background.
The world knew my husband as Kenny Omega but I know him as Tyson Smith.
The father to our children.
The love of life.
My husband.
Author's Note: I appreciate each and everyone one of you for reading my story and leaving reviews. I absolutely appreciate it! This part of the story has come to an end BUT I've decided to write a sequel called "The Velvet Rope". I will get around to it very soon. Thank you guys for reading this story! I appreciate the kind words and I appreciate you guys as well! Have a lovely weekend everyone!