Chapter 26: Recovery Road

Our family needed a LOT of help after the sudden deaths of Adalyn and Avery, but especially Adalyn. I mean, Avery was very old, and we knew his time was approaching. We just didn’t know when. But Adalyn…she was still young! It still hurts.

We all went through months and months and months of much needed grief counseling. Well, actually I’m still in therapy right now. It’s not the grief that cripples me now–it’s the guilt and shame. I needed someone to help me figure out why I’m such a screw up.

Now it’s back to Joy and me and our kids. It’s funny how life turns out sometimes. We’re all just taking life as it comes, one day at a time. Quite a few years have gone by since we last spoke. Here is what has happened:

Thaddeus and Aiden were as close as brothers could get. He came by the house every day it seemed like. It was really nice for Aiden to have someone to divert his attention from mourning his mother. Thaddeus loved being at our house. It think it was probably the family environment that intrigued him more than anything. He even said a few times that he wished he could stay with us. But one day, he and Mabel were gone! Their emails bounced back, phones disconnected…they just disappeared! And I was just getting used to the idea of having two sons! Wherever Mabel moved them to, I hope they are well, safe, and happy.

Joy and I both had our elder birthdays…

Ava is now a beautiful young woman…

And Aiden has turned out to be a surprisingly very confident and stylish young man.

Although I keep wishing our lives would have turned out differently, one thing I wouldn’t change is having Ava and Aiden grow up together. Neither have siblings, and although there is a significant age difference, I have always enjoyed watching them grow not only as cousins, but also as best friends.

 Everyone has healed quite nicely from our tragedies, but I am still concerned about Joy. She has a friend that she met long before Avery died, and he’s been coming around more often since.

Honestly, I kinda like the man, and I think it’s healthy for her to have someone else to talk to. Everyone knows that he likes her, but she can’t see it–or maybe she’s not ready to acknowledge it. I mean, the guy COMES to the house in a flirty mood! I guess she’s not ready yet. But what concerns me is the things that she’s been saying lately. She’s been talking about Avery more and more, but not grief talk. She speaks of him as if she had RECENTLY been in contact with him. I’m not sure if ghosts are real or not, but I’m having a hard time believing this story.

As a matter of fact, when we were kids, I remember her telling me that she had a conversation with mom after she passed. Maybe ghosts are real, and maybe they’re not. How come they only show themselves to one person? The SAME person? Anyway, she’s been saying really strange things about how it was nice to be in his arms again and talking about how soft his lips are. His lips?! Uhh…girlfriend…you have a LIVE man fawning after you who would LOVE to have you in his arms and show you how soft HIS lips are, and you go for the dead guy?? How does that even add up?