Whatever Occurs: Life, Love, and Loss

A Pleasant Surprise

You wake up before Ethon to take a shower, brush your teeth, floss, and read your Bible. When you check your phone, you get almost eighty notifications, half of them from Messenger. You don't click on the notifications just to get rid of them, but you read every word your Facebook friends have said to you in the comments and in your messages.

Ethon wakes up. He stretches, goes inside the bathroom, and is in the shower for twenty minutes. You are still on your phone when he gets out.

"People blowing you up?" He wonders.

"Yep," you reply, "quite a few of them are even in my messages asking me how I'm doing."

"That's a good thing. Ya wanna come down for breakfast, sugar?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm quite hungry."

You both dress up for the day. Ethon opens the door for you when you grab your backpack. He pulls his hotel key out of his pocket, then jiggles the doorknob to make sure it's locked. He stuffs the key back in his pocket and reaches for your hand as you both walk down the stairs to the lobby to eat breakfast with everyone else.

When you reach the bottom of the stairs, you see your in-laws again.

"You invited your family for breakfast too?!"

"I did! I wanted to surprise you and ease your troubles a little."

"Well, guess what, ETHON?!" You pause, then jump back with "SIKE! You did."

"You got me!" Ethon laughs, "I'm happy I helped make your day better."

Instead of sitting next to Scott and Anica or Tommie and Dayton, you eat your food with Ethon's parents. Ethon sits across from you while Ann Daugherty sits on your left, and Hudson Daugherty is on your right. They apologize for your loss and give you advice on how to cope.

"Perhaps the best way to cope with a loved one's death is to talk about it!" Ann notes.

You then ask Ethon if your family was made aware of any part of the trip.

He says they are, then adds, "I even told them that while they're out in the city, I planned on taking you, Malyssa, Beaudry, and everyone else with me to Ireland and back to visit my family. We're going to take the train and the ferry there, so we got all expenses paid."

You, Ethon, and everyone else traveling with you head to Derry, Ireland to be with his family while your family is running around in Glasgow.

"My family is vegan, so we're not going to have any dairy today, and especially no meat. I'd personally go vegetarian if I wanted to, but if I wanted to be vegan again, I'd have to try my hardest to give up dairy," Ethon reminds you.

"I was vegan for a while after I moved to England for college, but I did so to practice self control. It's definitely very hard, but the experience was rewarding. I just might do another detox like that again."

"That's why you and I do Meatless Mondays, because us humans consume so much just to taste it, and not because we need it."

"That really gets me. I try my best to have as many fruits and vegetables in my diet as possible. I really don't agree with the way the meat industry treats animals, so that's why I buy my grass-fed meats. Factory farming is very harmful to us, the animals, and the planet."

"I had a friend tell me one time that you are what your meat eats, so when you told me that you buy organic and grass-fed meats, I looked into that and realized I needed to make a change."

When you all get on the train, you nap while Ethon reads stories on his phone. Before an hour passes by, you are woken up to get on the ferry. You look around as the crewman drives. When you get off, you forget about all of the smallest things for the day.

When you all arrive at the Daugherty residence in Derry, you are impressed by the spectacular view. You end up staring at the world outside for a while. You suddenly feel caught in a trance. Ethon breaks you out of your trance when Hudson and Ann are serving a vegan casserole for dinner. You all don't stay much longer after dinner.

You breathe a sigh of relief, and are very impressed with such a pleasant surprise. This was the first time you'd been this happy in a LONG time. After getting off the train, and the ferry, your grief hits you like a ton of bricks again when you step foot in Glasgow.