The Parting: Final

Nancy called Tim to advise of her deepening feelings for him.  He was so overjoyed that he put his cell phone behind his back, threw back his head and yelled, “Yahoo!”  She laughed at him since she didn’t know how to respond to that.  He remarked, “You just made me the happiest man on the earth.”  Still, Nancy cautioned that she wanted to take it slow.  It was a long distance relationship and they aren’t easy.  Also, she wasn’t sure she wanted to move.  Tim agreed they could move slowly.  They would take it one step at a time.

Dr. Lowe was a champion for Charlotte.  Charlotte displayed raw tools and ingenuity with her writing and Dr. Lowe advised how, once molded and honed, the sky was the limit for whatever she wanted to accomplish.  Charlotte’s heart leapt for joy when Dr. Lowe shared this fact with her.  Never in her wildest dreams did she think she could be a journalist.  Things weren’t easy and the road still seemed quite long but Charlotte was beginning to believe. 

Bob’s heart was broken a few months later when his father had a stroke.  It was a relatively minor stroke but a major one followed it and his dad became bed ridden and unable to speak except for a couple phrases that he repeated over and over.  He could say “Yes.” and that made it somewhat easier to communicate with him.  Nevertheless, Bob could see the frustration in his father’s eyes.  To Bob, it appeared that his father was still all there but unable to come out of his debilitated body.  The man was trapped, unable to be freed.

Bob’s thoughts turned to Samantha from time to time.  That happened even more after his father’s stroke.  He remembered the two of them were close and something inside him said Samantha would want to know about his health.  However, Bob never did see or speak to her again and part of him wondered if he had handled things differently if they would still be together. 

John went to college that Fall and jumped into college life.  He wanted to experience it all.  Well, everything that was good about it.  He was not a party person so he didn’t seek that scene.  However, he was involved in a couple sports and joined the Acapella choir and even started acting.  He dated a few different girls but didn’t consider any of them very serious. 

He was happy to finally be out on his own.  He didn’t consider living on campus on his own but there was a gentleman from church that said living on campus was a good half way point from living at home to being on your own.  John immediately agreed with that logic. 

Jack finished counseling with Pastor Bob and the psychologist supplied by the military after a couple of months.  Both the psychologist and Pastor Bob believed his recovery was never in doubt.  He had a strong supporting cast around him and, often, that was the most important fact in any type of recovery.  Also, he strongly wanted to put it all behind him.  Jack continued to try reaching JoJo.  It was a long hard road since, not only was JoJo affected by PTSD, he was now addicted to drugs. 

He regularly thought of the song about people trying to reach those with an addiction.  “I pound on these walls with my bleeding hands.”  He understood why the writer’s hands were bleeding.  He had been pounding for so long they now bled.  Jack was starting to understand much prayer would be required.  All he could continue doing was loving and praying for JoJo.  He was very much encouraged during a visit when JoJo was sober.  JoJo shared with him that he “Had a wounded heart” and he “didn’t know what to do about it.”  Jack put a hand on his friend’s shoulder and said he would do everything possible to help him through it. 

On the anniversary of MIA’s death, the two of them sat on the floor of Jack’s bedroom.  Jack was nearly finished packing his things.  The two of them were going to get an apartment together.  JoJo said, “Isn’t it funny?  Death?  I saw enough of it in Afghanistan to fill 2 lifetimes.”

“Yep.”

“People come and they go throughout your life but you never really know…”  his voice trailed off. 

Jack turned to face JoJo when he started again, “It seems for every start there is a stop.  For every new relationship, one ends.  All these things go on and we are powerless to do anything about it.  Oh, we try to manipulate things to our own advantage.  But when bad things happen, things normally turn out good anyway.  So why are we always chasing after crap that isn’t going to amount to a hill of beans in the end?” 

Jack was silent.

“We went through so much shit over there and MIA lives through it all but kills hisself when he gets home.  I don’t get it.” 

“Me neither.  He was a good man.  He would have laid down his life for us and we would do the same for him.  But I have to tell you that since I’ve completed my therapy, it is like the curtains parted.  It is like a journey back into innocence.  I don’t know if that is what it will be like for you but I hope it is.  I can’t wait to begin working at the VA clinic and helping our veterans.  You know how much help we need and we can’t be the only ones.”

“You are going to do good there, buddy.”

“And you are going to be good at everything you do too.”