Completing The List

by P.J. Lowry

When Gail and Anna had heard that the list was pretty much completed, they came down to visit her to celebrate. Lizzy had called them to let them know that the list had been completed, and both of them couldn’t control their excitement. They had booked a restaurant to party over drinks and fine food. What Lizzy didn’t know is that Anna and Gale made some phone calls of their own, and pretty much expanded the part from three to twenty guests and booked a private room for a little privacy. Lizzy was unaware of what was waiting for her, so she was stunned to walk into the private room and see her father, her brother Danny, the Sheppard family was there as well as Hayden’s Mom and Dad along with David took up one side of the table. Shannon was also there with Damon, as was Jared who had over the last while shed over forty pounds! Lizzy congratulated the big fireman and gave everyone she could reach a big hug before reaching the head of the table and taking a seat. The food was already pre-ordered so everyone just took a seat and ate up while talking amongst themselves about many things.

  When the main course was finished, it was Mr. Sheppard who took the time to stand up and purpose a toast. “Here’s to Elizabeth Sheppard, and her ability to be stubborn in the face of a quest that not many would have the energy or love to complete.”

  Everyone toasted and tapped their glasses, drinking to her success. Lizzy felt the need to say something as she stood up to say something. “It’s true the list is complete, but I need to explain to everyone how that came to be. Two days ago, I donated most of my settlement to various charities. I left more than enough for myself to get my life back on track, but I used Hayden’s money to help those less fortunate than myself. As for me, early this morning I applied to go back to school. I’m going to finish the degree I started so many years ago and become a nurse. Through my money and my application to return to school, that is how I finished Hayden’s list. Through education and charitable donations, I’ve made a difference and will continue to do so until my time is up. That is not only a pledge to Hayden’s memory, but to myself and the people I love. I moving on with my life and starting a new chapter.” Everyone at the table applauded, most shocked at what she had done. With some proper investments and what not, she could have lived off the money she had gotten from her settlement and never worked again. That is not what Lizzy wanted to do with her life, as she was raised differently. She was going to go back to school, get a new life and a new career and carry on without Hayden but towards a promising future. For Lizzy, this is the only way she could truly move forward and she was looking forward to the new challenge. She was never one to shy away from anything, and would attack school and life with the same vigour she had before when starting a life with Hayden. She was sure he would approve of her actions and genuine effort to move forward, rather than spend the rest of her life looking back at what could have been.

  After the meal was done, Anna and Crispin walked over to say good bye but both had weird looks on their faces, like they had something else to say. Anna was the first to speak: “We need to ask you something.”

  “All right, shoot.” Lizzy responded.

  “We’re having a baby!” Crispin spit out.

  “Wow!” Lizzy said with shock, “That’s amazing!”

  Anna gave her friend a big hug, “I don’t know about Gale, but I wanted to make sure every base was covered. We want you to join our little crew.”

  Lizzy was taken back but asked. “What do you mean?”

  Anna shrugged. “Call me shallow but I was never really satisfied with the result of number twenty-eight. We would like you to join our crew, as the baby’s Godmother.”

  Lizzy was tearing up as she hugged her friend again. “I’d be honoured! Thank you!” she paused for a moment, “You didn’t procreate just to help me out here did you?”

  “We’ve done enough for the list.” Anna said with a laugh. “This event came about the old fashioned way.”

  “All right.” Lizzy said as she gushed with Pride. “I will try to be the best Godmother I can be, maybe the best of all time.”

  Crispin smiled. “We can live with the best you can be.”

  The happy couple left and Lizzy was there with Gale again, and she looked over at her friend. “Any other surprises for me?”

  “Only one.” Gale said as she stood to leave. She walked over and handed her a small piece of paper. “He emailed this to me when I asked him to come to dinner. He couldn’t get time off base and wanted to make sure you got it when you completed the entire list.” With that she gave Lizzy a big hug and walked out of the room.

  Lizzy sat there and looked at the letter and could tell by the way Gale had referred to ‘the base’ that it was from Gary. She took a deep breathe and then opened it to read what he had written to her.

  Dear Elizabeth:

  I had no doubt you could do it. This was not an easy thing to do, so you make sure to take a moment to look back and be proud of what you’ve done for the man you love. I have faith that he is looking down, grinning ear to ear and beaming with pride. You took what everyone passes off as a small chore and made an adventure out of it. You are young and have a lot of time ahead of you. I hope you use this experience to grow and move on to what can only be an exciting time in your life. I know letting go can be hard, but I can testify that your courage and love was enough for me to make a lot of progress concerning my own future. It gave me the strength to find a little closure of my own, and start to turn a new page and lay the foundation to a new path of what could be my new future. I have you to thank for that, and I will be forever grateful that you came into my life. I hope that we will meet again because the idea of being away from someone who inspires me to be more than I ever thought I could be isn’t the way I want things to be. You name the time and place and I’ll be there for you. I hope no matter what happens we will always remain good friends. Chin up, sport, you are at the finish line and deserve to stop and smell the roses. I am very proud of you kid and what you have accomplished. As we would say here in the core, the mission was a complete success. No one will ever be able to take that away. Take care Elizabeth, and I hope to see you again sooner than later.

  Sincerely,

  Gary

  Lizzy looked at the letter and as she read it again, she couldn’t help but cry. It had taken her so long to complete this list that she never really had an idea how many people she moved and inspired to do more while she was doing her own thing. She then noticed at the bottom of the letter was an address, an email address Gary had left so she could respond. When she got back to her apartment, the first thing she did was take Wyatt out to pee. While the little dog was out, sniffing around for the perfect spot to do his business she couldn’t help but take the letter out of her pocket and read it again. She used her time outside to think of the perfect response and it came to her just as she was walking Wyatt back into the building. She bolted to the computer and wrote down the address and composed a simple letter.

  Dear Gary:

  Do you like tacos?

  Lizzy

  Lizzy looked at the letter and thought it was perfect. Even though she was moving on towards a bright new future didn’t mean that everything had to change. She had the perfect first date for her and the Sergeant Major, and she wouldn’t want it any other way. She took another piece of paper out of her coat pocket and it was her copy of the list. She grabbed a pen from the table and used it to cross off the last item from the list. Even though she hadn’t technically completed the last task, she was going to school the following month and was going to resume a career that would help a lot of people. Barring some disaster, she had faith there was nothing that was going to stop her from finishing her degree and going out into the world to make a difference. It wasn’t faith that made her feel this way, but her own determination or stubbornness as someone at the party said that let her know it would be complete and there was nothing that was going to stop her. Her quest was over and because of it Lizzy not only learned so much about the man she loved, but also about her
self. She was ready to move on and if it wasn’t for Hayden and his list, it would have been a lot harder for her to get over what had happened. By making the list, he had saved her from wallowing in her own pity and allowing her to partake in an adventure that changed her forever. She was going to get a cup of tea, when the computer suddenly beeped. Gary had replied to her email and she excitedly logged on to see what he said. Lizzy took a quick look at the letter and laughed. It was certainly a night of firsts and she seemed finally ready to take that next step. She took the list and finally folded it up and tossed it into a drawer in her desk. All the tasks were complete and it was time for her to make her own adventure, live her own life. She was confident in herself that this was the right time and the right path. She giggled with delight as she wrote up another quick email and fired it back to base, eager to set something up and see where life would take her from here.

  The End