Part Five

My heart ached, if she was not on that plane, my mental stableness would take a swift and dreadful fall into the black hole of depression. I refused to think about it. I called Val Yoder at SMBI, He calmly told me, with a chuckle, "Glen, she is more than likely not on that plane." Being the optimist that I am, I told Donna, "Listen, lets go over to the airport, nobody knows if she is on the plane, she could be." So we jumped into my car and scooted over to the airport, found the gate, and began waiting.
People started pouring through the doorway. We calmly stood there on our tip-toes peering eagerly over the top of the crowd. Like a child at the dollar store, trying to get a glance at the coveted pocket knife. Then, like a song in the night, I saw her. Oh joy, oh delight.
We had made arrangements for Rachel to stay at Choice for the night before her and her mother went to SMBI the next day. I would be taking them to Indiana for the weekend.
On this trip, Donna kept wondering when I was going to talk to Bob about getting married. She knew, somehow, that we were engaged. After Rachel and I discussed it, we decided that I should talk to him. I did this with confidence, asking for his permission to marry his lovely daughter. He wanted to chat with her before giving me an answer. So I promptly offered to mow his grass so he could talk to her. As I mowed, I watched them, Bob on his knees begging her to think about what she is doing!!! Oh wait, he’s pulling weeds in the flower bed, and my lady is sitting daintily on the porch swing, like a kitten licking its paw.
I discovered he had indeed given his consent. We set the wedding date, May twenty-eight nineteen hundred and ninety-four. Six more months, oh ponderous, torturous, slow-moving life.