Love Affair That Lasts Forever - Part 1 of 2

Kate

Kate McKenzie is fiercely independent. She has, had her fair share of suitors that always seemed to be intimidated by this. And she, being her strong-willed self, refused to lament and give into their selfish desire for her to be some helpless, needy female just to suit their overly inflated ego's. She didn't need to be rescued. John and Grace had taught Kate how to stand on her own two feet and rely solely on herself. Asking for help was very foreign to Kate and something she would only ever do IF she needed it.

Kate lived in a small farmhouse style home, the kind with the big wrap around porch. Some nights she would sit outside on the porch swing, reading while she listened to the sounds that nature made as the day came to an end. Sometimes she would just reminisce about her childhood. Grandpa John and Grandma Grace lived several miles away from Kate. They were more her parents than her grandparents because they had raised Kate since she was 2 years of age. Kate grew up never really understanding why her mother abandoned her in the middle of the night at her grandparents home, but she never saw her mother again after that night. And she had never known her father, not even his name. John and Grace raised Kate in a home that was rich with love. They taught her many things about life and the lessons that come with it. The biggest one for Kate being, honesty is always the best policy. Kate learned this very painful lesson at the age of 10 when she accidently broke her grandmother's favorite vase and then lied and said she didn't do it. Being grounded for 2 weeks and not allowed to go play with her friends was definitely not worth ever lying again. They taught her to treat other's the way she would want to be treated and about how having good manners always went a long way.

Kate had grown up playing with the neighboring children. They swam in a big pond near her grandparents home. One day she found a long rope in her Grandpa's barn, and begged him to make a rope swing out of it for her and her friends to play on at the pond. John, could never tell Kate. No, when she would look up at him with those bright blue eyes and asked for anything. So with Kate and the rope in tow, he went to the pond and found a tree that had a good sturdy limb that hung out over the water near the dock and made the kids their rope swing, carefully tying a very large knot at end of it. Kate and her friends played there for hours. When they would get hungry and come back to her house all starving, knowing that Grandma Grace would have something tasty waiting for them. Some days it would be homemade soup, other's some kind of sandwich. Their favorite days were the one's that Grace had made Mexican Street Corn that was covered in the most delectable sauce. Grace was careful to never tell anyone what she had used to make that sauce taste so good. But everyone would always try to find out anyway.

Kate had excelled in school graduating as Valedictorian of her class. John and Grace had saved for a lot over the years to pay for Kate's college education. However, Kate was fortunate enough to be awarded a scholarship, a full ride one, to the college of her choice. She had wanted to be a teacher for as far back as she could remember. There had been so many of her teachers that had made such a difference in her life, that had encouraged her, taught her, and truly been her Champion. She applied to the one's that offered the best teaching program, with her fingers crossed that the one that was closest to where she had grown up would be the one that would be sending her that long awaited acceptance letter. When you are waiting for something you really want it feels like it takes forever for that day to come...that's how she had felt for the past month. Then one day, a letter from Columbia University came...yes, THE LETTER. Kate was too nervous to open it. What if they didn't want her? She thought of a hundred, "What if's"? Hesitantly she opened it and began reading it. "Dear Kathryn", she has always hated that name. "Congratulations! We are so pleased to welcome you...." Kate screamed, "YES!!!!!" And this sent John and Grace running in the direction that they heard her scream come from only to find her jumping up and down. "Gran, Grandpa, guess what?!" "Based on all of this yelling your doing, that scared us half to death",  he said with one eye brow raised and a soft smile on his face, "you got the letter you've been wearing out the driveway going to the mailbox everyday looking for". "I did it Grandpa, I did it!! I got accepted to Columbia Universities, Teachers program, she exclaimed". 

Now that seemed like a life time ago. She had been teaching at an Elementary school in the town that she lived in for the past year. Kate loved her job, she loved the way that it gave her life such an enormous purpose. She loved the kids that she taught everyday. And meeting their families at various school functions. Her nights were spent grading papers, coming up with lesson plans and fun learning activities for her students. Her weekends were spent running errands, laundry, cleaning, cooking and sneaking in a visit with her Grandparents when time allowed. Every year during the Fall the city hosted a Fall Outdoor Market. She made sure to open time in her weekend schedule to attend it that year. She loved it, she loved everything about it. Meeting new people, seeing familiar faces. The stalls full of trinkets, handmade jewellery, wood carvings, vegetables, baked goods. But Kate's favorite was the Food trucks. They sold everything, the old familiars and some new things that she had never tried before. This inspired something in her and later that evening when she went to her Grandparents for dinner she just had to talk to them about it. "So Gran, you know that everyone loves your street corn, right?!" Kate said coolly. "Why yes Kate, I do. Where are you going with this?", Grace replied. "Well, I got an idea today while I was at the Market and I wanted to talk to you and Grandpa about it." This raised an eyebrow for both Grace and John. "So what's your idea Katie"? John had called her that since she was a little girl, it was just something special between him and her because no one else was allowed to call his girl that. "So, there were so many different food vendors there and I was thinking that maybe I could speak with someone and see if I could get us our own booth and I would help sell Gran's Mexican Street Corn", she replied, praying that they would see the wonderful logic of her plan. Grace was very hesitant, she made every excuse she could think of to not do it. But after 30 minutes of  this, she finally said, she and John would discuss it and give her an answer tomorrow. Little did any of them realize that this tiny little endeavor would change all of their lives forever, especially Kate's