Chapter 1: New Beginnings
Heaven is an interesting place to be. It's never the stereotypical image of clouds and angels that some people have. Although I do think that Heaven is a different place and a different experience for different people. For me it's been reliving every single moment of my life, cherishing the happy times, and being grateful that the tough times have passed. If you can imagine it, it's like spending the days watching reruns of your own life over and over again. There were so many great happy times in my life that overshadowed the darkness; I never get tired of going through it time after time. Of course, a lot of that happiness had to do with love. No, not any kind of love. I mean the soulful merging and partnership of two people joined into one. That's what I had.
I was 21 the year that my soul started singing. It was the year in my life that everything started changing. On a surprisingly cool May morning, I was ready to graduate and receive my bachelor's degree. Alright, alright, it was a degree in Biochemistry, which was more important to me than anything at the time since I had been accepted to Columbia Medical School in New York. How was I supposed to know what I would end up doing in life? Things never work out the way you plan them.
The dean called out, "Evan Thomas Alexander," and I strode proudly across the stage, shook his hand, and flashed my best smile for the numerous cameras in the crowd that I knew my mother and my entire extended family had ready to capture this moment on film.
The rest of that day was simply a blur of family members smothering me in hugs and congratulations, endless amounts of food being shoveled into everyone's mouth, and back at the hotel room that my Uncle James had rented, a lot of drinks for the adults. My older sister Maria flew in all the way from California. I knew she cared about me a lot, but sometimes she got to be a little bit of a pest.
"Evan, don't you think you've had enough?"
I rolled my eyes and shook my head from side to side. Even in my drunken state, Maria found ways to piss me off.
"Look, Maria," I slurred, "maybe YOU have had enough to drink, but I graduated today, my party is just getting started." I poured myself another shot of vodka from my own 375mL bottle. The "Evan Special" is what I always called it.
"You know that's ridiculous! I don't drink! I know Mom and Uncle James went through a lot of trouble to have this party for you, but that doesn't mean you should go around acting like a drunken ass."
I started laughing uncontrollably at her. "Mare," my insulting nickname for her, "you can do whatever you like. This is my party and I'm gonna get drunk if I want to." Uncle James chose this exact moment to walk by. He clapped me on the back, ruffled my hair and said, "Good boy."
Maria whirled on the ball of her foot and stomped off to her room in disgust. I assumed that she was going to take care of her three kids. That's where her nickname came from. She was only 2 years older than me, but she had somehow managed to finish college and pump out three little monsters, all a testament to the good looks of their mother and father.
I must have passed out after a while of joking and laughing with my relatives because the next thing I knew, the party had died down and someone's weight was lightly balanced on my legs.
"Hi, baby."
Through my drunken haze, I titled my head forward and looked up at my girlfriend. I always wondered how I was lucky enough to get a girl like Jane. Calling her gorgeous didn't do her justice. She had long auburn hair that she always wore straight down to the middle of her back. Her hazel eyes sparkled with warmth and compassion, the kind of eyes that your grandmother has that always send warm shivers up and down your back. That girl had a smile ready whenever you needed. And she was mine. I cooed and nuzzled my head into her lap as she softly stroked my curly black hair.
She rolled my head back a little so that she could look into my eyes. "Sweetie, you're drunk, let's get you to bed."
She lifted herself off of me and helped me to my feet. I staggered and swayed to the hotel bedroom on the far side of the suite. Jane looped her arm around my waist and swung my left arm over her shoulders. She was a respectable height of 5'7'', but it must have been tough for her to guide my 6'2'' frame to the room. Somehow she managed to do it though. She always did anything when she put her mind to it. I loved this girl. I fell into the bed, or maybe it was that she pushed me, and tried to undo the buckle on my belt. When I couldn't do it after three tries or so, I fell back into a giggling heap on the bed. Jane calmly and patiently helped me get out of my pants and button down shirt. She pulled off my socks and boxers and slid my body under the covers.
I didn't remember anything else until the next morning when the sun came in through the window and called me out of my sleep. I stirred, turned over on my side, and opened my eyes to find two burning amber eyes staring at me.
"Hi." I murmured.
"Hi, yourself," she replied, smiling warmly at me.
"What time did you get in last night?" I adjusted myself so that I was more comfortable with my head propped up on my right hand.
She reached out and stroked my face as she talked. "Oh, around 12:15 or so. I kept trying to get here earlier, but every time I thought it was safe to leave, my mom would break down again. Laura and I had to try to calm her down until we finally resolved to give her a sedative that put her to bed. As soon as I could, I rushed up here to be with you. I'm only sorry that I couldn't be at the graduation."
I looked at her in disbelief. "Jane, baby, I understand why you couldn't be there. Your dad just—"
"Stepdad."
"Fine. Your stepdad just died. It was important for you to be there for your mom and your family."
She sighed deeply. "I know, but it's not as if we were ever very close. You know how this feels, Evan. The same thing happened with you. Your mom drove your dad away when you were 5 years old, she got remarried twice and divorced twice, and you know that neither of those stepdads ever really cared anyway. You haven't even talked to them since the divorces. Jim and I were never really close anyway. He married my mom while I was in college, so I only saw him for a few days at a time during the holidays, and we never developed any sort of bond other than the fact that we acknowledged that the other existed. So I hope you know that my boyfriend's graduation is more important to me than the funeral of a man I hardly knew. I love you, Evan."
I leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips. "I know you do." However, in the back of my mind I always worried about Jane's bitterness towards her family. She and her twin sister Laura had lost their father to a shooting that occurred when he tried unsuccessfully to break up a drug deal in Philadelphia, the city we all grew up in. After that, her mom went from guy to guy trying to replace Jane's father, but neither Jane nor Laura ever let anyone else step in to take the place of their dad. Not even the slightest bit. I had a tough time with my family's drama as well, but it never really got to me. Like Jane said, my mom drove my dad away and tried to substitute a father and husband in as quickly as possible. The sad part is that Maria and I knew we would never have to put up with her boyfriends and husbands for long. Deep down, we both knew that my mom still loved our dads and that no other men could fill those places in her heart. It's just that my mother always had a way of driving away the ones she loved. Her boyfriends simply left after trying to measure up to her expectations; none of them could match our dads. In fact, my mother had a way of doing that with her whole family. Out of her 5 brothers and sisters, both of her parents, and her numerous cousins, aunts, and uncles, only Uncle James, Maria, and myself found a way to put up with her theatrics. The only reason that the rest of her family even showed up for my graduation was for me. They most certainly didn't want to have to deal with my mother for longer than was necessary.
