All smiles I set to preparing my one and only signature dish. Though his repertoire of recipes was limited my father loved to cook and had instilled into me the idea that everybody, nobody who they were or what they did, o have at least one sm dunk go-to meal that they could make in their sleep. I hadn’t my dad’s ary passion so I opted for the minimum of one. My smile fades as I think ba all the time I spent pying games or watg silly videos when I could have been with Mom or Dad i learning more and abs their loving pany. Looking baow I could barely even remember the games and videos, but every minute spent with them I could recall down to the st precious detail. It was a tragedy how I wasted so much of those years on the frivolous when the most important things were right there in front of me. I always thought we had forever. I always thought we had more time. Too te I learhat all the truly important stuff in life happens in the moments, just like this ht now. Looking to Heather’s bedroom door I slowly nod as the true value of so many of my parents lessons begin to at st sink in.

  As I chopped the onions, garliato, avocado, jalepeno and tro I could feel Dad standing at my shoulder watg me do it just the way he’d taught me. Leaning down I take a long sniff of the aromatic fresh tro. “Smells like green.” I whisper, just like he did every time he chopped the herb. After shredding the lettuid fiurn to the stove. In a skillet I start browning the onions then turn to gathering my fv. Mom would have approved of Heather’s impressive array of spices and been jealous of how she had them all anized in a series of racks and little drawers. I chuckle as the image of Mom’s hodgepodge spice cupboard es bae with the smell of the spices. I could see all the different brands, bels, reused bottles, and little baggies all jammed together in a chaotic mass. In that same vision I see my mother’s hand reag past me to somehow pluck the exact item she needed from out of the ever shifting medley. How she did it without err every time her Dad or I ever knew.

  I y array carefully theurn to stir the onions and add the garlic. After waiting just a minute for the garlic to ‘open up’, as Dad used to put it, I dump the ground beef into the pan and start to smash it down. The loud hiss of searing beef fills the room as the mouthwatering aroma of onion and garlic fills my nose. Once I had it fttened I set to adding the spices. Knowiher’s keen olfactory sense I endeavor to make the meat as plex and deliciously fragrant as possible while keeping the heat at a level to allow all of the smells and fvors shine forth. I didn’t want to ruin my first meal for her by actally making it too spid I wao treat Heather’s sensitive sniffer not overwhelm it. With her the nose was at least as important as the taste buds.

  As I stir and take in the scrumptious Tex-Mex aromas I ot help but wonder what Mom and Dad would think of my current situation. I am not left to wonder long as my memory quickly provides the ahe pair of them were as much a part of me as my bones and sinew. Dad would have has his arm around my shoulders a out a big ugh. He’d make some joke about it, he always had a joke no matter horopriate the situation, then somehow through the hum the point home that he and Mom had my back regardless of how things went. If he thought I had doubts he would bring them up but if he sehat my heart was set he would ence me te my own path and embrace the adventure of the road less traveled. And at some point he’d make some ent oher’s milfy good looks culminating in a suggestive ‘hubba-hubba!’.

  This would be the point Mom jumped in, probably giving Dad an exasperated look and a smack to the shoulder as she did so. She was always the more prudent of the two and the smartest person in the house by a long shot. She’d be asking questions, so many questions. Just like Heather she’d be ed of the practicalities and worried about my future happiness. She wouldn’t be thrilled about me being with a woman nearly twice my age, especially one who had a e to our family regardless of how minor. She would try to make me see reason, like Heather did, and bring forward arguments that I would have no ao. She’d want to meet Heather, of course, and try to get a sense of her end of things. In the end she would pull me into a hug, give me a kiss, and tell me she loved me no matter what. She oold me something along the lines of it being our heart that plots our course through life and that all the mind do is man the rudder to avoid the shoals as best it could. She would no doubt have some perfect bit of wisdom for this moment too, after which Dad would craother really bad joke that got us all ughing again.

  For all their …they would be happy for me. Happy that I had found happiness, even if it was in an unventional form. Through the veil between this life and the I sehat I had their approval. And that meant the world to me. What I wouldn’t do for just one more hour with them. I would tell them of Heather and how amazing she was. I’d go on about her beauty, her generosity, her g nature, and her uplifting expectations. In short, I’d tell them that I’d found someone who could uand me and love me in all the right ways as much I could love her. Then I’d tell them of her cool and iing family, of my exg new job and the future it promised, and of my renewed zest for life. I’d tell of how low I’d fallen and how they’d been right all along, about everything. Every sihing. I’d tell them how much I missed them. I would cry, and so would they. I’d get them to tell the old stories again, even though I already khem by heart. And when the hour I would stand tall ahem not to worry anymore. To Mom I would say that I was going to be okay now. To Dad I would tell him that I was going to make him proud. With tears in their eyes and smiles on the faces they would tell me they love me then take each other’s hands aurn to heavehey would await our reunion.

  I too had blurry eyes and a grin as I stir in a bit of tomato saud a dash of sugar then squeeze the juice of the lime onto the meat. Letting out a sigh I let the fantasy slip away aurn to the now where the most beautiful dy in the world was just one room areparing herself for what would be a magical evening. Life was in the moments and I was seizing this oh both hands.