You know how the story goes…….Boy meets Girl and they fall in love. Pretty soon they start spending all their time together.  Things like studying and going to class just aren’t important anymore. Pretty soon, Boy asks Girl to marry him, after spending hours scratching off jewelry coupons to be able to afford a ring.  It’s pretty exciting when you’re 21, but thinking realistically doesn’t come naturally when you’re that age.  Instead Boy and Girl just knew that they’d have it all! They’d finish college, get great, high-paying jobs and be just fine!  Between the both of them working, they’d be millionaires!  They dreamed of traveling and seeing the world together, and someday, when they were ready, they’d start a family and they’d live happily-ever after. Of course, that’s how it goes in all the fairytales -doesn’t it?

But, in our fairytale, we weren’t both finished with college, we had no money, and a great job for me didn’t come even with that degree.  Yep, we struggled at first, like so many other young couples.  The apartment was small, the car was small and singular, and we lived tiny paycheck to tiny paycheck.  The real world wasn’t as fun as in our dreams but we were together and we were determined to make it work.  We knew the struggling wouldn’t last forever, everybody has that story when they first start out, you know.  Boy, looking back on it now, those days were EASY!

Maybe those days were “EASY” looking back on them, but like all good things, they didn’t last.  Yep, I’m pregnant………I’m sorry; I know we were going to wait, but stuff happens-right?  Boy tried to make me feel good by holding my hand and telling me everything was going to be alright.  He was wonderful, a rock, a shoulder to cry on and more importantly he was there for me.  “It won’t be easy, but we can do it together”, he would say.

And so, there it was…our first introduction to Reality.  A baby was coming, part of both of us, we may not be ready but that doesn’t matter, it is what it is.  What could have tore us apart, brought us closer together and when she came along that hot July day, we were in awe of every bit of her; her smiles, her giggles, her funny faces, her sounds and her smells.  It’s true what they say, that you’ll fall in love from the very first minute.  And despite the craziness of being new parents, we did our best and made it through the first few months without knowing any better. 

We made it through colic and constant crying, working two jobs and not sleeping. Boy was trying to finish school at night while staying home with our little one during the day. We were doing the best we could and paying most, well maybe just some, of our bills!  She was our little cutie-pie and we were a family, the three amigos! After surviving those first few months we started feeling a little optimism creep in and we innocently let ourselves think we could be happy. Yet, that wasn’t to be our destiny and instead Reality was back and this time it was there to remind us not to get too comfortable or have too much fun. It’s message was quick and harsh; “parenting isn’t an amusing little game or fairy tale; it’s real-life, real emotions, and for the two of you, it’s NOT happily-ever after!”

A baby is born on a hot summer day to two young parents just finding their way.

Their days passed quietly no problems they’d see and two thankful parents sat and rocked their baby. 

Then all of a sudden their baby took ill and two frightened parents sat quiet and still.

The doctors were careful to watch what they’d say and two tearful parents just held hands to pray.

Their lives took a tumble; their road took a turn and two troubled parents had new things to learn.

Their friends’ lives were easy with runny noses and colds but for two hardened parents life was not an easy road. 

Their days filled with medicines, their nights filled with tears, these two tired parents lost track of the  years.