Once in a Lifetime

The Background

My name is Karen and this is my story. It may not seem to be interesting, but this a story about life, loss and the fight for love. You see, this is the story how Jimmy Fallon and I fell in love. I had been a FalPal for over 16 years, ever since Jimmy had joined SNL and I followed his career. But I never thought my life would take a 180 degree turn the day I went to New York and The Tonight Show.

For me, it had been a long winter. Our snowfall had started in mid-October, causing many of my friends to start grumbling about snow by the end of December. It was so hard to get anywhere and do anything for all the snowfall we had. Most of us had to stay indoors for long stretches of time.

In late December, I came down with a nasty cold, but didn't really give it much thought. I just kept on working and doing what I could despite the snow.

One day early January I woke up with a raging fever and a horrible cough. I thought I could toughen it out so I went to work, but that was the last thing I remembered. I woke up in the hospital a few days later with a nasty case of pneumonia. I was told that my asthma had made the symptoms worse with the pneumonia. I was in the hospital for two weeks before I was released.

I had started to get better when I was diagnosed with shingles. Being 30 and having shingles for the third time, I thought I was going to die. But after my doctor gave me a prescription for the shingles, a week or so later I finally started to get over the hump and recover.

The biggest blow came a few weeks later. It had been a cold snowy day in early February when I got the worst call imaginable; my parents had been killed in a car accident. I was in a daze for a long time. Thankfully my friends were by my side as I buried my parents and started to take care of their estate. It was the lowest point in my life.

Winter slowly gave way to spring and life finally felt bearable enough for me to live again. I was sitting on the front porch of my home when I decided that, since the final parts of my parents will had been taken care of, I was going to get away for a couple of weeks.

I decided to take a trip to New York, as I have always loved big cities since I was a child, especially at night. I could sit for hours just watching the lights of the city. I knew New York would be pretty in May, so I decided to stay for at least two weeks.

So the next day I began arranging my trip. I found a hotel near Central Park so I could walk anywhere I wanted too. I also wanted to go to 30 Rock and try to get a standby ticket to the Tonight Show. I booked a room and got a flight for the next week.

Packing and closing up the house consumed me for the following week and before I knew it, I was on my flight, looking out my window, watching the clouds below the plane as we soared higher.

I sighed, smiling slightly as I leaned my head back and put my earbuds in so I could listen to music.