It was the summer of 1957 and I had just graduated high school. My dad had given me a summer job working construction with his business. It was just a small job to get some extra cash before I went off to basic training. It wasn't too hard of work. "Moving mountains and building dreams" my dad would say.
One day we were working on a house out on farm land and the family we were working for came to see how it was coming. My father went to greet them and talk to them about the house while I stayed working with the rest of the crew.
"Look, Stan." Said Billy pointing in the direction of my father.
"I know, my dad is talking to the family." I told him.
" Yeah but did you see the daughter!" He told me without question.
A daughter? There hadn't been a girlb besides the wife with her husband and son.
I turned around to see what Billy was talking about and I couldn't believe what I saw.
She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. I know that's cliche but she was. She had long brown hair and wore no makeup, she knew she didn't need it.
By this time the whole crew was staring at her.
I tried to get back to work but she was distracting. My eyes kept getting pulled away from my work to look at her.
She kept coming back with the excuse that she wanted to see how the house was and every time I couldn't focus. I never had the guts to talk to her until one day I was on break. By break I mean sitting on a pile of hay and eating whatever I brought for lunch that day.
She came to the half done house on a sunny summer day of 81°. All the workers had their shirts off including me when she walked up. The men who were on break quickly put their shirts back on the minute they saw her approach us.
"Hey boys" she said addressing all of us but looking directly at me. Everyone quickly blurted out a hey back to her.
"My name's Olive." She told me.
"Hello, Miss Olive." I said back tipping my head to her.
"Your papa says you're heading off to boot camp soon."
"Yeah, in the fall."
"Must be excited to get out of here." She said looking away.
"Yeah I am. I guess."
I was so nervous. A beautiful girl had never talked to me before now and I felt numb. I didn't know what to say, words just came running out of my mouth.
"Can I write to you while I'm gone?" I asked her without thinking.
"I thought you'd never ask." She replied with a smile.
I smiled back and that's when it all began.
Olive and I spent every non working moment together.
I headed off to basic training that November. She wrote me every day, I tried to write back as often as possible and most of it was in the time I had to sleep. I told her that when I got back I was going to marry her. She didn't believe me, she kept saying I was lying.
I didn't tell her that I was coming home from boot camp until I showed up at her door on a cloudy day in May.
"You're home! Why didn't you tell me?!" She screamed when she saw me.
"I wanted to surprise you!" I told her smiling.
She ran to me and jumped in my arms. I twirled her like in the movies.
I didn't waste any time in asking her to marry me. I got down on my knee and asked her.
"Of course!" She said
I kissed her for the first time in 7 months.
I didn't have much time until I had to leave again so the whole ceremony happened very quickly. The planning, the decorations, everything was ready in two weeks and it was the happiest day of my life. Seeing her walk down the aisle was breath taking. I was marrying the girl of my dreams. We didn't have our own house at the time so we stayed with her family in the guest room they had.
A month later I had to leave. My General was sending me to fight in the war we just joined in Vietnam, of course I wasn't thrilled to leave but it's what I signed up for. It was my duty.
I was ready to leave with the rest of my team.
"Youre not leaving." Said the general right before my team boarded to leave.
"Why not? I'm ready and everything." I told him.
"Get your stuff, you're staying here until I say otherwise. Your time isn't now, boy." He told me pointing to the bunk room I had been staying in the past 10 months.
"Sir.."
"Now, son." He said not moving.
It turns out that he wanted me to stay and be a Drill Sergeant . It wasn't hard but I didn't have the right to be a drill sergeant. It wasn't my place.
I wrote to Olive everyday since I had more time now. One day I got a letter from her saying she was pregnant. I was going to be a father! We were young but we had so much support, we could do it. Olive had regular check ups with the doctors and it seemed to be going well.
I was in the middle of training a small group of men when I got the message.
"Your wife, Stan. She's having troubles with the baby, sir." An Enlistee came running to tell me.
My heart stopped beating for a moment. I had to remind myself that it was going to be okay. Olive only had three months left until she had to deliver and i had the time off to be there for the birth. I ran to the phone the soldier told me her father had called from.
"West?! What's wrong with Olive?" I asked him.
"Stan, she's in the doctors right now. She was having bad pain this morning and it kept getting worse. They said she and the baby will be fine but I'm scared." He told me. I was the last person I thought he would tell he was scared to.
"Itll be okay, west. I have faith. I have to go, call me if anything happens." I told him, I hung up gently and walked away.
He never called back but I got letters saying everything was fine. The last three months went smoothly and I was finally home for the delivery.
It was the scariest thing I had ever witnessed. They wouldn't let me in the delivery room to be with them. Things were different back then.
The birth lasted two hours. I paced outside the door the whole time jumping every time a nurse was let out.
"What's happening in there?" I would ask.
None of them would answer me.
The doctor finally came out and told me to come in. It was finally over and I could finally see my wife and baby.
When I walked in I went straight to Olives side and kissed her forehead. She smiled up at me.
There's news." The doctor said. "For starters it's a girl! The bad news is that There's a high chance your baby won't make it. She's not getting enough oxygen, her lungs are not working properly. I'm very sorry. We'll try everything we can but please, hold her first." He said.
Olive and I never discussed any names, we wanted to decide when we saw her. The nurse handed her to me. She was the most beautiful thing in the world. The most precious thing. Her eyes were open big. "Look, Olive." I said handing the small baby to her mother. "She's beautiful..."
"What should we name her?"
Right when I said this, the nurse took her back. "We must start helping her now." The nurse walked out of the room with our baby girl.
It was three hours later when the doctor came out and told us she definitely wouldn't survive. She was 2 pounds 11 ounces when she was born. We named her after Amelia Earhart, in case she needed to fly away. We never got to take our daughter home.
