Part 30
Dear
Diary,
Christmas
was coming and while part of me was excited, part of me was very worried. Whenever I feel this happy is when the rug
is usually pulled out from under my feet and everything fell apart. I knew AJ loved me but I couldn’t help feeling
that I was right…
We spent the next few weeks
getting ready for Christmas and enjoying our newly spoken love. The only drawback was that Francesca called
and said that she would not be able to make it as she had planned. I knew that upset AJ but her promise to
visit just after the New Year made him happy.
I arrived at AJ’s house one day
two weeks before Christmas and walked in carrying a box of decorations. We were going to go out, get a tree, and
have a nice quite evening decorating it.
After setting up the tree, listening to soft Christmas music, AJ pulled
out a box of his own decorations.
“I didn’t think that you had any
decorations, AJ.”
“I bought this one for you,” he
said handing me a small box.
I smiled at AJ as I opened the box
revealing a beautiful handmade ornament of the eagle, globe and anchor. “AJ, this is beautiful. Where did you ever find this?”
“I heard about this place on the
internet several months ago and I had it specially made,” he explained before
pointing to the larger box. “I had my
sister send some that she had. I have
no idea what is in here.” He opened the
box and first pulled out a letter from Adele which he read aloud, “AJ, Momma
had saved these for you in case you ever wanted them yourself or to send them to
Francesca. Most of them you’ll
remember. There are some old ones
wrapped very carefully here. The blue
glass ones are from Grandma Vincent and the glass cardinals are from the
Maryland Fitzpatricks. I hope you enjoy
the memories. Send me a picture of you
and your lady at the tree. Love,
Adele.”
“So you told your sister about me
too?” I asked with a smile.
“No, she must have guessed because
I’ve never asked about tree decorations before. Let’s see what’s in here.”
He started unwrapping ornaments
and sharing the memories for each. My
favorite one was actually a box that was a picture frame. I looked at the picture of AJ as a one star
and a proud looking woman on each side.
He pointed out his mother on his left and his sister on his right. As I was about to set the frame aside, he
showed me a secret about it. That one
photo was not the only one there. There
were lots of pictures there. I moved
closer to AJ and I flipped back in time seeing AJ and the two women becoming
younger but all in the same stance.
“It was a family tradition for Dad
to take a picture of Mom and us at the tree.
He insisted that we stand the same way so we could see the changes each
year. He started taking a picture of
mom every year and when I was born, he added me to the picture. Then my sister when she was born a few years
later. He took a picture every year
until he died but by then my sister was married and her husband took over.”
“That is a great tradition. How many pictures are there? Are you in every picture?” I asked.
“We took them every year but I
wasn’t in them all. I was in Nam and
was unable to get leave a few other times.
I did try to get my picture taken around Christmas every year and send
it home…” He suddenly fell silent. I
looked up at him and saw a sad look cross his face before my eyes dropped to
the picture he was holding. Someone,
probably his mother, had taken a picture he sent from Vietnam and after folding
it she put him next to her picture at the tree in Texas so that way they were together.
“My mom always said that no matter
where we were, we were together for Christmas.
I had just gotten my first star when this last one was taken. My mother passed away a few months
later. Adele and I just didn’t have the
heart to take any more pictures after that.”
We sat in silence for a moment
before AJ spoke again. “Do you have a
camera?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“How about we have Francesca take
a picture of us when she comes for New Years?”