One to Remember....

Jane

July 3rd, 2006. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the beginning, it was the ending. It was all those things that bring a smile to your face, it was the lead in your feet and the cold feeling in your stomach. It was my last night in Tennessee, it was my first step away from my past. Two weeks prior, all the events had been set into motion that would result in the conclusion of my life in Small Town, USA. But even all the best planning never made it truly feel real. Then one day, as if without warning, I was left with only my blue Nissan Sentra, full of all the belongings I had not sold. My wife had gone on to Georgia before me never to return to our hometown as one of it's daughters, and strangers were sleeping under the roof I had once called home. On July 3rd, 2006- it became real.

For as far back as I can remember, my youngest sister Jane and I were inseparable. In fact most people often believed us to be twins, which we are not. They referred to us as Peter'nJane as if it were all one name and not two. So on that last night, with no where left to go, Jane and I met at Joyce's house and reminisced about the past over a couple of beers. We laughed about the time, while we were in foster care, we enrolled in four full weeks of summer school just to get away from the other kids. Or that time we re-enacted the final showdown between Luke and Darth Vader from The Return of the Jedi on the football field next to the group home we belonged to. With our stick lightsabers in hand, we fought for the galaxy because we were too sad to think about the real good and evil in our life. My favorite moment of the night came when Jane, after a few beers in, became increasingly convinced that she had the superhuman ability to stretch. I had a little fun with that one, I must admit, placing objects across the room and exclaiming with amazement at how far her arm could reach. To this day I still call her "Stretchy".

In the back of our minds we sensed this was the final night of our journey together as Petern'Jane, the Combs kids, Luke and Darth...July 4th would begin a new chapter, a new life and a new beginning. But July 3rd was a time to recall the past and drink to it's memory, and for goodness sake, laugh about the imperfect things that couldn't be changed.