What Do You Mean?

I remember when you said,
“I love you. Will you be my wife?”

I said, “No.”

You asked, “What do you mean?”

I said, “We’re too young
let’s wait awhile and if we’re still
together in a few years ask me again.”

And you did.
This time I said yes.

When you came home from your tour of duty
we planned a wedding and then were off
to Hawaii where we made our home
on the island of Waipahu.

I got pregnant right away
and within nine months we had a boy.

Justin was his name but you had to leave.
I took care of him by myself and had to arrange
for the move. The car needed to be shipped. I stayed
all alone for the first six weeks of our son’s life.

My mom and dad came to help but had to go
before the week was out because my brother
was lying in a hospital and would die if he didn’t
have surgery and they were gone too soon.

I flew back to my parent’s home
stayed awhile until it was time for you to return
then I flew out to South Carolina to find a house to rent
and waited for you to come back to me and you did.

We lived for a year in the little
brick house with two bedrooms
and a large backyard. Members from your crew
came to our home on Thanksgiving and Christmas
but we moved again before the year was through.

You had to go to Virginia to attend school.
We lived in a complex with lots of apartments
and then we were off to Florida.

I was pregnant again but this time you were with me
we lived in military housing so the move was easier
and in a few months our second son, Aaron was born.

It was easy having children being so young
because we had lots of energy and we were too stupid
to know that raising kids was difficult
we made it simple and grew up with our kids.

We were all as brown as cocoa berries
living by the ocean traveling up and down the coast.

The days flew by and then three years passed
and you were discharged from the Navy
you had to look for work to support our family.

Flagstaff was a bust so we
went back to California where our story began again
and we continued to grow and learn to truly understand
what love meant when we got married so long ago.

P.S. The wait was worth it don't you think?