Hold on for the Ride

Part Seventeen

        Our day at the beach was absolutely splendid, I honestly loved every second of it. We swam in the ocean, talked for hours on the sand, and played Frisbee. By about five o'clock we decided it was probably time to go and get something to eat, and I still had my surprise for Ryan.

            "Okay so I'll go to the boys room and you go to the girls one and change and we can meet right here and then get some dinner and then you'll show me your surprise?!"

            "Ryan I think you're getting to excited for this surprise, I don't want you to be disappointed or anything."

            He rolled his eyes and then ran off to the dressing room. Once in the dressing room, I quickly took off my aqua blue bathing suit and threw on my favorite sun dress. It was nice and loose which always felt great after a swim in the ocean. I tied my hair into a braid and laid it over one of my shoulders that was sun kissed. When I walked out, Ryan was already standing by the door, his left leg leaning against the wall.

            "Rose we're just going to a small shrimp shack, you didn't have to dress up so much."

            I rolled my eyes, knowing he was just joking around with me. I had a quick flashback to the time when my parents took me to the beach and my mom wore a sundress, I always wanted to look just like her when I was younger. Ryan immediately noticed something was wrong and grabbed my hand.

            "Hey Rose, I'm here. You alright?"

            I didn't want to crush the mood with a pity party and so I put on the brightest smile I could. I was hoping he couldn't see the fakeness through my teeth.  So much for being open. After eating dinner at our favorite shrimp place, I took the wheel and began driving down the road. I felt like anytime I drove, I began to think back to my parents. It was almost as if my mind went to a different place when I hit the highway. I tried not to do so and focus on the conversation Ryan and I were having, but let's just say I was way too excited to pull into the parking lot.

            "So can I know now Rose?" He asked as we walked up to the door.

            "Alright, so this place is somewhere my grandpa used to take me when I was really young. It's a poetry reading!"

            He almost dropped his keys out of excitement. Then he hugged me so tightly, bouncing up and down.

            "Rose! You don't know how bad I've wanted to go to one of these! They seem so cool, oh my goodness! You thought this would disappoint me? What the heck Rose, you're literally the best." Then he hugged me again.        

            We walked into the room and sat down at a small table, greeted by a woman who brought us some waters in mason jar jugs. This place was way cooler than I had ever remembered. Ryan looked at me, and then at the microphone. The first woman walked up to the stage and grabbed the mic, she read a truly inspiring poem. It had to do with piecing together your past. A few other mediocre people read and Ryan was honestly just infatuated with every word they said. I grabbed Ryan's hand and then grabbed his poetry book out of my bad, nodding toward the stage. He thought for a second and then took it from my hand. After leafing through a few pages, he folded the cover back and walked up to the microphone.

"She was made so perfectly by our Creator,

She was like a glass vase,

so pure, clean, beautiful.

Until one day other vases became

jealous of her, they would pick on her

and make her feel different.

One day her glass began to break.

She didn't know why, but each time

someone was mean to her, a piece broke

off of her body. She was slowly falling apart.

When the day came when there was only

one piece of glass left to break her,

she prayed and prayed and prayed.

Suddenly her glass started to come back,

but thicker. All of those people no longer

mattered, God was protecting her."

            Everyone snapped and he walked back to sit with me. I smiled so big, and this time it was real.