Great Oak Gazette

Noelle Bohac

It was a realization, a day he felt too in love with to even understand. An array of food, all ordered ahead of time, family and friends surrounding the table, sharing plates and talking amongst themselves. It was a nice restaurant, fancy to the point of wearing suits and dresses being a necessity. The cuisine was Italian, one of his favorites, and every dish had been pre-prepared for his arrival, all set to his main choices.

It was lovely, beyond lovely, the evening filled with so much internal excitement that he wondered if he was spreading it. It was his birthday. Not just any birthday, but his thirty-fifth birthday. For some odd reason, his family always looked at it as one of the best ages, an age of luck, almost. But he had never seen it like that. At least, not until now.

Seeing everyone, everyone he had in his life, made that sense of worry and anxiety he always seemed to hold slip away. He held no fear about his work, the last thing on his mind being the emails his boss and employees would send him. There were no issues at home, all chores were done, and even if some things were left untended to, at that moment, he didn’t care. He was here, a glass in his hand and a fork in the other, staring at all the people he loved.

And beside him, the one he loved most.

Some people earlier in the year seemed to ask “what made life complete” for him, and he never truly had an answer. They all seemed to expect that he did, most of the people at his work being younger than him, and his friends still stuck in a twenty-year-old’s mindset. But what was he to say?

Money? Sure, he had a decent amount. He had a job he loved created from the degrees he earned in college, and that definitely was a milestone he always feared he would never hit. Did it make his life complete however? No. No it didn’t.

And every time he said that, whoever he was talking to would blink in confusion. ”No? It isn’t money?”

That always made him chuckle. They always believed it was money, and for a long time so did he.

But that night, as he sat there, he realized all of what he really had, what really mattered. His mother, his father, his older brother and sister, his friends from college and the coworkers from his district.

And then…his wife.

She was being almost as quiet as he was at the dinner, but she had no need for words. The soft smile on her face spoke volumes, and especially after knowing she planned all of this, calling everyone he knew to bring gifts, asking his parents question after question about things he never told her from when he was a boy, just to make the day all the more special.

She made sure everything went perfectly, even if she knew he would be happy with
anything from her.

The whole night had been something he never would have thought would be such a major memory to him. It was just a simple dinner, right? Nothing crazy or revolutionary, but to him it was. It was the night he finally, fully, realized this was all he needed. Everything else seemed so obsolete now, and it made his shoulders feel ten times lighter.

He had grabbed his wife’s hand in a moment of silence with himself, holding it firmly as his eyes flicked between everyone. Their fingers intertwined together, and before he knew it, her head was on his shoulder. His smile had grown even bigger, and he felt he’d cry. He felt so unbelievably happy where he was, and it was almost astonishing.

His head had turned to place his chin atop her head, and he just sat there, breathing in the fresh air that was that night. The food, the gifts, the people…everything that the night held and kept awaiting ahead of them.

He thought of what would happen after this. Saying goodnight to his friends, telling his parents he’d see them tomorrow, putting the gifts into the car and driving home with his love. But what about way after, after all gifts were opened and the night was months in the past, what then? Would he again hold this same feeling in the future?

And he knew he would. He knew he would as long as he had his family. As long as he had her. As long as she, and her gift to him, one that didn’t hide beneath stacks of other presents and gift bags, would still be with him. One that hid between the two of them, a secret just found out today, would still be with him, and with her, as their child. And as proof that he had finally lived a life he believed complete.