Friday, July 15, 2011
Dear Diary; or I guess that’s how I’m supposed to start this off. I’ve never kept a diary before so this whole concept is kind of new to me. Well I guess if you’re going to tell all your deepest secrets to someone, it might as well be someone who can’t talk. But then again, it kind of sounds impersonal to talk to a book. Of course I do know someone that would never tell, so why don’t I just write to that person?
Dear Mom, (Yeah that sounds about right)
Dad gave me this Journal earlier today. He said every girl needs to have a diary. Of course he didn’t give one to Emy. But that’s because I’m the only one that shares his love of writing.
Well today is my 16th birthday, mine and Aaron’s. Which you know, of course, you were there. It’s kind of hard to be happy about it considering it’s also the sixteenth anniversary of your death. People say that at every death marks the start of a new life, or in this case two new lives. But sometimes I just can’t stand that our birth cost you your life. It doesn’t seem fair. Yes, I’ve accepted the fact that I would never know you a long time ago. But I still yearn for that mother-daughter bond that so many of my friends have.
When we were all little we would ask questions about you. We wanted to know everything about you. Dad would start off saying that you were the most beautiful woman in the world. Then he would describe you to us. He said you had a heart of gold, and even though you couldn’t see it, you could feel it when you walked in the room. He said you had a smile that was like the sunshine, always lighting up the day. Your eyes sparkled like the stars, and your hair was like chocolate silk. You could tell he loves you. And that he always will.
Whenever we would cry out for you, he would take us in his arms and tell us that you would always be in our hearts. And that you would never really be gone because there was a piece of you in each of us.
And I like to believe that you really are here with me, guiding me through life like you would if you were alive. Well happy birthday to me and Aaron. Oh and Mom, I love you.
Love always,
April Marie Johnson
I put my journal on my desk and got up to go to my closet. Sigh. I really didn’t want to go to this stupid dinner party. I don’t even like my birthday! I took my time putting on my sky blue cotton sundress, trying to think of ways to get out of the party. I could always say I don’t feel good. Sigh. No I’m not going to do that to dad. That’s something Aaron would do, my twin brother. And even he’s not plotting how to get out of this. I walked over to my makeup counter. A normal teenage girl would be super excited over their 16th birthday. But nope, I guess I never was normal. I combed through my long, curly, sandy-blonde hair with my fingers and then examined my face in the mirror. My bright green eyes looked bitter. This was highly unusual, because I’m naturally a happy person. Except one day a year. I shook my head erasing the thought. I would be happy for dad. He’s doing everything he can.
Not able to put it off any longer I leave my room and head for the living room to join the rest of my family. It would be just the 5 of us tonight, my first birthday without Emily, since she went off to college. So it’ll be me and the guys. I suppressed an eye roll. I mean Jasper and Aaron and I were really close, but Jeremy is always in some kind of mood. Well I guess that makes the both of us tonight. And dad was going to be radiating with excitement. I guess I could put a good act on; it would all be over in a few short hours. I walked into the living room to find the guys waiting for me.
“Finally, come on sis let’s get this over with.” Aaron whispers to me as he joins my side. He was dressed in khaki shorts and a light blue, button up, collar shirt. We shared an identical look of anticipation and then turned to Dad, Jasper and Jeremy.
“Come on guys, we got to make that reservation,” Dad hurried us out the front door, ignoring our obvious hesitation. “We’re going to your favorite restaurant; you could show a little more excitement.” He got in the front seat of our black, four door, Chevy Silverado.
Jasper didn’t say a word as he slide into the passenger seat of the truck. He knew exactly how we felt about this day. He felt close to the same way, and so did Jeremy. Only dad and Emily seemed to find importance in this day. Maybe if this day only marked our 16 years of life, I would feel the same way. Aaron, Jeremy and I got in the backseat and buckled up.
“Yeah dad Red Lobster, we go there every year,” Aaron told him, obvious mock excitement in his voice. I rolled my eyes at him; he could act better than that.
Dad chose to ignore him and we drove in silence as we made our way through traffic. I stared out the window on Jeremy’s side, at the familiar Friday night scene. Many of the parking lots of clubs and bars were filled. Everybody went out on Friday night.
We pulled in to the bustling parking lot of Red Lobster and circled the restaurant twice looking for a spot. “Well good thing I made a reservation, didn’t want a repeat of last year,” Dad said as he finally pulled into an open space.
“Yeah Dad, it’s a good thing. Hey can you do us a favor, and not tell anybody it’s our birthday?” I asked hopefully. I mean come on we’re not five, we don’t need to be sung happy birthday by a bunch of strangers. “Please?”
“Yeah Dad, you could at least give them that, they’re not little kids anymore,” Jasper agreed with me. And Jeremy nodded along with him.
“Thanks Jazz,” I hugged him from behind. And then I got out of the truck, glancing over at Dad.
“Okay, I won’t tell anybody.” He sighed and mumbled something under his breathe that sounded something like, unappreciative kids. I ignored him.
We walked through the crowd of people waiting for their beeper things to go off so they can be seated. We walked up to the hostess and Dad gave them our name. We followed the waitress to a table in the corner of the restaurant.
“Your waitress will be right with you.” She smiled and put five menus on the table, and made a hasty exit
.
I looked over my menu, they always had good food and I tried to order something different every time I came. Hello, I don’t want to be all boring and order the same thing every time. Even though I was against the whole birthday thing, that was my favorite restaurant, and I could at least enjoy the food.
“Hey there, I’m Nicole and I’ll be your server for tonight. What can I get you to drink?” an over perky waitress asked as she approached our table. She was tall, with curly red hair and freckles, and really green eyes. She reminded me of the babysitter off of “The Incredibles” yes I’m a Disney freak, so what?
“Um I’ll have a coke zero.” I answered her and then turned back to my menu.
“I’ll have a coke” Dad told her politely.
“Make that two.” Jasper said not taking his eyes off the menu.
“I’ll have a coke too.” Aaron said giving her a flirty smile that made her giggle like a 15 year old.
“Uh I’ll just have a sweet tea.” Jeremy told her quietly.
“Okay I’ll be right back with that.” She gave one last look at Aaron and went off to get our drinks.
“You’re such flirt! I swear you flirt with everything that moves!” I chastised Aaron, who just laughed in my face. The boy was a serious player. Of course it was just an act, but he hadn’t met a girl yet who can get to know the real him. Although, he hadn’t quit trying.
Jasper laughed with him, “Come on April, he doesn’t flirt with everything that moves, just the girls.”
Dad, Jeremy and I just rolled our eyes, because Nicole was coming back with our drinks.
“Here you are, three cokes, one coke zero and one sweet tea,” She smiled and set down our drinks. “Now, have you decided on what you’re going to order?”
We all ordered, I went with the snow crab legs. It was like a thirty minute wait for our food but when we finally got to dig in, it was worth it. As we ate, we teased each other back in forth. I was actually enjoying myself. Mostly because it was easy to forget what this was all about. So the dinner wasn’t bad at all, well not until the end.
“Okay kids, now that you’re all done I have an announcement to make that effects all of us,” he looked at each of us. We just nodded warily for him to go on.
“Alright well, I quit my job today, and took a job offer somewhere else. Which means we’re going to have to move.” He finished, and gave us a minute for it to sink in.
“Moving? Like to a different house or a different state?” Jeremy was the first to react to the news.
“Yeah, how far are we moving?” I asked trying to not let the anger I felt seep into my voice.
“Well, we’re moving to your mom’s home town. It’s also where the rest of our family is.” He told us carefully, anticipating our reaction.
“Wait isn’t her home town in… oh come on Dad!” Aaron practically yelled.
“Yeah that’s right, we’re moving to South Dakota.” Dad announced. We all just stared at him in total shock.
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