My Parent's Reconciliation Vacation (excerpt from Proverbial Woman), Part III

He never lost sight of his lifelong purpose. Though just as with everything else in life, there is always a price to be paid for what good fortunes prevail. After successfully building the retail side of the furniture business into what it is today, he now realizes the trade off for what is happening is far less a gain than it is a loss. The love and support of a family is an intrinsic commodity. And yet, we wage its value as if it’s something that we can recoup at a later time, or perhaps during a down cycle in our lives.

Sentimentally swayed as emotions stirred in his soul, out of the tenderness of the moment he began reflecting on the joy they once shared. Though suddenly experiencing a sharpness of pain penetrating his heart, his thoughts quickly reverted back to a state of clarity, as he quickly became mindful of his mistakes.

Love, in its sometimes-callous approach, has a way of subtly reminding us how important others feelings are when they are overlook for life’s temporal pleasures. It is usually when we’re left to face our own demise, everything seems to strike with a sense of clarity. That is when it imposes upon us its burden of truth.

After countless late nights of uncontrollable mind surfing, sorting through snapshots of memories while searching for clues, and yet only finding conjectures of misdeeds. After all possibilities have been exhausted. That is when the one notable questionable that none of us can escape, suddenly appears.

And yes. Even the truest of hearts at the end of their journey seems reluctant to conclude that only love knows why the heart aches. Though it only takes a moment to trade places with another, it would seem to take a lifetime to understand the reasons behind the pain, especially the emotions that exist in contrary to the words of skeptics at heart.

Realizing he must have lost track of time. Aimlessly peering down at his watch, he noticed forty-five minutes had passed with his mood suddenly changing from calmly waiting to bouts of dispensing short, irritable sighs. Just as his patience was beginning to expire, and he prepared to call out to her, out from beyond the door she suddenly appeared.

“What do you think?” she asked, as she stepped in full view.

“I think…I think I’m going to need another drink,” he jokingly replied, gazing at her.

“Have you seen my purse?” she asked, amused by his comment.

“No. When did you lose it?” he answered.

“I don’t know. I thought I left it up here earlier this afternoon when we checked in.”

“I’m sure you did. Just look around for it. You’ll find it.”

Suddenly feeling like his old self, quietly he shifted around in the stool before settling back to watch her move about in her search. Engaging her every move as if to be embellishing the fluidity of her feminine sway, in a near lethargic state he retreated into his thoughts.

Mindful of times past, he often sat and watched her as she move about in his presence. When they first met she once told him how uncomfortable she felt with his unfamiliar behavior. Though as time went on, she began to see it as a form of flattery.

Rose Marie Covington. Growing up in a small university town in Northern California with two liberal hippies as parents, her life seemed more like a free willing spin off a 60's show than the traditional life of an American family.

There were many times she disagreed with the lifestyle they led. Though they stood against many inequalities of that era, she often criticized her mother for being too forthright in her quickness to dispense judgment. But for the most part her hidden contempt was directed toward her husband, my grandfather.

Alexis Covington, a professor of fourteen years in the field of Political Science, and a staunch believer of the Women’s Movement, relentlessly instilled in her a sense of independence. She believed a woman's worth should be nothing less than the center of her universe.

Although she loved him immensely, even while being aware of his extra-marital affairs, she remained in the marriage for the sake of Rose, and hope that he would perhaps one day change.