Carpe Diem (7 page)

We go on to tell Flynn and Bryna about our day and they relive their excitement of planning and getting set up for today.

Meanwhile, we continued to be served by our seemingly invisible wait staff. If it weren’t for our empty plates being taken and replaced with the next course, you would never know any of them were there. Even when you did interrupt your conversation to thank them again and again, they would only nod and smile.

Appetizers are now laid out in front of us and are absolutely mouthwatering. The chicken wrapped in bacon covered with a maple glaze next to potatoes that have been thinly sliced and lightly topped with cheese, bacon, chives, and sour cream are begging for me to eat them.

Before we know it, our plates are replaced with the next course—salad. The salad is not disappointing, small by design it is the best-looking cranberry walnut salad I have ever seen.

“There is no way I’m going to be able to keep eating,” I say while shoving the last bite of salad in my mouth.

“I know this is amazing. I don’t ever want this to end,” Bryna replies.

“Flynn, you truly outdid any expectation we had when you brought this crazy plan to us,” Casey says while raising her wine filled glass.

“Flynn? This was all your idea?” I ask.

“Well, not entirely… I will explain after dinner. Right now I want you just to sit back and enjoy,” he replies.

I smile in agreement, deciding not to push him to explain everything right now. However, when I see Bryna has a funny grin on her face that is so cheesy, that pretty much screams this was her idea and she has something else up her sleeve.

The rest of dinner was equally amazing. The pineapple mint sherbet for our palate cleanser, the roasted duck with orange sauce for the main course, and the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake bites for dessert were truly heaven in my mouth.

When the chef finally exits from the kitchen to greet us, we stand and give him a round of applause. He takes his bow. The waiters once again return with yet another for each of us with three small tarts on them. One coconut cream, one passion fruit raspberry, and the last he called a stone fruit tart. They are his thank you to us for having him in our home. He was nice enough to pose for a picture with all of us and then retreated to the kitchen to finish cleaning up.

As we retire to the living room, the wait staff finishes clearing the remaining plates and glasses from the table then disappear into the kitchen for the final time.

I cannot help but to pay attention to the fullness of my belly. I probably gained twenty pounds tonight, and every pound was more than worth it. My taste buds have been teased and pleasured with so many wonderful things I think eating anything less than gourmet meals from this point on will feel like an unprovoked punishment for the poor little things.

T
aking a seat
on the couch next to Bryna, I see the joy in her eyes. I see the same joy in everyone’s eyes as I look to each of them with a smile.

“I am so full. I don’t think I will need to eat for a month,” Abby blurts as she falls into the loveseat across from me.

“So, we are going to do this every night from now on right?” I joke.

“Sure, I think we could all get used to this kind of treatment,” Casey adds.

“Yeah, but then we would have to build a gym in the basement to counter the five million calories we just ate,” Abby states, laughing.

Abby is the health nut among us, always trying to make sure we make healthy choices. She obviously tossed that mentality out the window for tonight.

“Okay, can we give it to her now?” Bryna blurts suddenly.

“I think we have to before she passes out into a food coma,” Flynn acknowledged.

Bryna does an excited bounce and claps before she jumps up to retrieve the small gift that made up the centerpiece on the table.

“Oh, no, no, really… no more gifts. You have all done so much for me today and spent so much money that I cannot accept any more gifts,” I declare as Bryna comes running back into the living room and places the gift in front of me on the coffee table.

“Whatever, Mom. You deserve all of this and more. Besides it’s not from us,” she responds with a smile.

“Then who is it from?” I ask, looking at them for someone to answer.

“You will just have to open it to find out,” Casey tells me.

I give each of them a confused look before turning my attention to the gift in front of me calling for the wrapping to be ripped away to reveal the answer to my lingering question.

My heart races as I scoot forward on my seat to reach for the perfectly wrapped gift, the white paper with a silver bow staring back at me with the secret they hold.

The excitement takes over and before I can calm myself, I grab the folded corner on the end and I rip open the package to reveal an envelope and a rectangle jewelry box.

My heart almost stops when I see the handwriting on the front of the envelope. This is not possible. Why would there be an envelope with my name on it written in Jack’s handwriting?

“What the hell is this?” I demand.

The smiles that filled everyone’s faces are now fading.

“This is not funny, what the hell were you guys thinking?” I demand again.

“No, Mom, will you please open it already?” Bryna begs, moving closer to me.

I reluctantly reach for the letter and open it. In the envelope, there are two pieces of paper, one a plain white paper and the second a piece of what looks like old notebook paper. As I unfold the first one, the top paper looks like a letter from Jack. I give everyone another evil glare. I’m sure they meant well and how they were able to make it look like Jack’s handwriting I have no idea, but this was crossing a huge line. Why they thought this would be okay, I cannot begin to imagine. My eyes turn back to the letter and begin to read what it has to say.

Piper,

Today we have been married for twenty years. It has been such a journey for us and I have loved each and every day.

Although we may have our happiness with each other, I know that the start of this marriage was not what either of us had planned. We had plans to go to college, travel, experience life the best we could before saying I do and starting a family.

That being said I would not change a thing, I have had you in my arms for twenty years as my wife, and you gave me the most beautiful daughter.

You have given me so much and never asked for anything in return that I wanted to do something special for you.

My gift to you is Carpe Diem. What do I mean by that you are wondering and probably giving me a “you’re crazy” look right now, but it is just that, Carpe Diem.

The next paper you open you will find your high school Carpe Diem list. You have been so busy taking care of us that you never had time to cross anything off the list, once upon a time you were hell bent on adding to your list and crossing items off to make sure that you made the most of each day.

So for the next year, we are going to cross some things off your list and have some of the adventures we had to put on hold.

From my heart to yours,

Jack

My hands start to shake and I can feel my heart trying to escape from my chest. I can barely breathe deep enough to form any words.

“Mom, are you alright?”

I look at her with tear-filled eyes.

“How… I…” I stutter.

Flynn stands and walks toward me. He takes a seat next to me and reaches for my hand.

“Piper, Jack had been planning your twentieth anniversary for years. He had it all planned out on what he wanted tonight to be and looked forward to it. I didn’t think he would want you to miss out on all his hard work and since I have been hearing about every last detail for years, I called everyone to see what they all thought about helping Jack out one last time and giving you the gift he wanted you to have,” Flynn explains.

Casey and Abby have tears running down their faces when I look to them for confirmation. They each nod and then I look to Bryna.

“When Flynn called me and told me about Dads plan I knew we had to do this, we had to do it for you and for Dad. He would have wanted us to,” Bryna adds

I say nothing as I reach for the second piece of paper that is still folded. The paper feels worn and the creases are weak from being opened and closed many times. As I unfold it, I see Carpe Diem written at the top in large letters, below that my name Piper Allen and the date February 23rd.

It was an old school assignment, I recognize it as the one that I had to do in high school English class my senior year. My teacher, Mrs. Jenkins, was out sick and we had a substitute teacher, Mrs. Foster. She was kind of a hippy-looking woman. She wore a long flowing skirt and a loose-fitting top. The guys in the class were having a blast secretly trying to figure out if she was wearing a bra.

Since Mrs. Jenkins had recently finished our lesson on poetry and had not started the next lesson, Mrs. Foster decided to make it a fun day. She started talking to us about some experiences she had. One of the other students made comments about a bucket list and one thing led to another, and the next thing you know, she was lecturing us about the difference between her experiences and a bucket list.

“A bucket list is filled with all the things you hope you can do one day and honestly probably will not have the chance to do. I live each day as if it is my last and choose to seize every opportunity,” she told us.

Most of the class gave her a look of not caring so she took it to the next step.

“Who here has heard the phrase Carpe Diem?” she asked.

We responded with silence, that is until one of the idiot football jocks shouted, “This is English class, not French class,” throwing several other students alongside him into a fit of laughter.

“It’s Latin, smart-ass. It means ‘seize the day,’ taken from the Roman poet
Horace
‘s
Odes
, and that will become today’s assignment,” she stated.

The laughter was replaced with a sigh of disappointment that quickly spread through everyone in class, everyone but me that is. I was intrigued by the stories she told us and although they were not all filled with travels to distant lands, each one was inspiring in its own way. To think that by looking around your own community, you could create your own adventure.

“Okay here is your assignment. For the next twenty minutes, I want you all to make a list, a Carpe Diem list. It should be a list of things you can do to seize the day and make it special. It can be as simple as taking a walk in the park, to traveling, but each item must all be things that you feel you would be able to reasonably do without a large bank account.”

I loved this assignment. It was one of the best ones I had been given. A road map to making our own adventures rather than waiting for them to happen to us.

Bryna pulls me back from my memories when she touches my shoulder and leans down to read my list. I look around in awe. All of this was Jack. Jack had all this planned for me and my friends, my family carried out his plan.

The pampering, the dinner, and this wonderful, thoughtful gift.

As Bryna finishes reading the list, Flynn grabs my attention when he reaches for the rectangular jewelry box I had forgotten about.

“I think you will find that you will need this,” he says, handing me the black velvet box.

I reach for the small box and open it slowly. My eyes tear up again when I see a black and silver ballpoint pen.

“I think you will find you can cross another one off your list,” he adds.

I take a closer look at my list for the first time in over twenty years and read carefully, looking for the item I remember so vividly writing down.

Get a tattoo

Work at a haunted house

Create a secret family recipe

Fun with Girlfriends

Fall asleep under the stars

Learn to Ski

Try Golfing

Complete 25 acts of kindness

Make a difference in someone life

Take a picture in the same spot in each season

Have a whipped cream fight