Chapter 10: Surprise...I'm Coming To Colorado!

As late August slowly rolled in, summer continued to heat up. Letters between Mike and I took on a fervent and desperate tone with love now being expressed freely everyday. I remember sitting for hours on my bed in my parents home writing letters to Mike with a pink pen and spraying the letters with Paris perfume. I spent even more hours pouring over every word of his letters to me, often reading them so many times I could commit them to memory. We each decorated the outside of the envelopes and stuck the stamps on upside down which signals that you love someone. I always wrote S.W.A.K on the seal of the envelope even though we had never kissed. For now our kisses would exist in envelope form only. Mike wrote to me everyday and I did the same fore him. Our mailman Jeff often found me waiting by the mailbox in the afternoon heat for him to arrive. I got to know Jeff well during this time. I always had a big glass of ice water or lemonade or a cold can of Diet Coke waiting for him. I guess when you are 17 and in love, the person that delivers you the letters that comprise the only contact you have with your beloved earns that person a special place in your life's priorities. He began delivering letters to my door instead of the box out front often asking how Mike was doing. Mike began writing Jeff messages on the outside of his envelopes and as I reflect on this time, I believe Jeff got a huge kick out of our budding romance. I handed Jeff my envelope of outgoing mail daily, trusting him to get my letter sent on it's way to Colorado Springs where it would be delivered to one Basic Cadet Mike Meeker who was embroiled in his own private hell of basic cadet training at the Air Force Academy.

I registered for classes at our local Community College. Word spread that Amy Oliver was giving up her acceptance to the best journalism school in the country to stay home and go to community college. What a disappointment I must have seemed. But my goals for my life were different. I no longer wanted to spend my life chasing after stories and living out of a suitcase. What seemed glamorous to me just weeks prior now seemed to hold a life full of emptiness. I struggled with this choice myself, feeling like I was letting down the world. My parents, my friends and even my very own self expected more of me than community college. I had dreams of winning a Pulitzer or becoming a Senator or at the very least being shot at in some third world country as I struggled to interview freedom fighters in the jungle. Settling for community college in South Sacramento was a far cry from being a Mizzou Tiger. (University of Missouri where I was going to go) I can't explain why everything changed inside of me that caused me to change directions so completely. It seems like a weakness to attribute it to falling in love with Mike. But none the less, falling in love with him caused me to change what I wanted out of life. And as we fell in love through this exchange of letters I grew more certain with every passing day that my future was to be found with him, despite the obstacles in our path.

And boy did we have obstacles in our path. Different religions, six years of him being in school, being 17 years old, vastly different political views, vastly different views of our goals and ambitions not to mention the little tiny fact that I was absolutely NOT interested in being associated with the Air Force in any way. I had a bumper sticker on my car that said "It will be a great day when schools have all the money they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber." Yeah, I'm pretty sure me being the wife of a young Air Force officer would not be winning Mike any points with his future employer.

During this time I was growing closer to Mike's mom. I was getting to know this large family full of two parents and five younger brothers that I didn't know existed when Mike lived in town. It was about this time that the Meekers had me over for dinner for the very first time. Dinners at my house consisted of my parents and I sitting down to a piece of meat, a starch and a tossed green salad while we discussed our day, current events and family news in a relaxing atmosphere. Then one night in the summer of 1989, I found myself sitting at the Meeker's dinner table. Barbecued chicken was served. At the table sat Mike's parents, five brothers ranging in ages from 16 to 3 years old and me. As we did in my family, we proceeded to bow our heads and close our eyes while a prayer was offered for the food. I have always, ALWAYS, peeked during prayer when my eyes were supposed to be closed. This occasion was no different. My head was bowed but my eyes were open. As Mike's father began to draw the prayer to a close, I saw two forks being raised high in the air in some sort of violent motion. As his father said "Amen" at the end of the prayer, Mike's brothers Ron and Chuck raised their forks high in the air and jumped for the same piece of chicken simultaneously stabbing it with their forks. The other chicken pieces slid from the platter and Ron yelled "BACK OFF CHUCK IT'S MINE!", at which the younger 10 year old Chuck removed his fork from the pierced chicken breast. Seemingly at the same time 11 year old Rick tossed a roll in the air to 13 year old Ken and boys started to spoon and shovel food in their mouths at amazingly high rates of speed. I have never felt more comfortable at a dinner table than I did at that moment. It was like I had always spent mealtime in this fashion, surrounded by eager and hungry younger brothers who peppered me with questions while talking with their mouths full. Chuck was dismissed from the table at some point for giving the most impressive belch I had ever heard up until this point. I secretly wanted to high five him but he was sent away from the table with a stern scolding so I didn't think my admiration for his burping abilities would go over well. Mike's mother blushed as she watched her gaggle of boys lick their fingers and excitedly tell stories to this new guest. I was as much of a novelty to them as they were to me. A teenage girl, sitting at their table who wasn't a cousin was something that had never occurred in the Meeker household until this point. I realize now that they probably had no idea why I was even there. Was I a friend of their brother and son? They had no idea that I was completely in love with Mike at this point. And I didn't let on about that fact either. I just soaked up the dinner chaos with laughter and a wonderful feeling of belonging.

As chocolate pie was being served Mike's parents mentioned that they would be flying out to Colorado soon for the annual family weekend at the Academy. It would be the only time the freshman cadets would be allowed to go off campus and have any free time until Thanksgiving. It would be the first time they got to spend time with their son since June and would be the last time they would get to see him until Christmas. Given that I was 17 and ignorant and apparently raised in a barn I asked if it would be okay if I flew out to Colorado Springs that same weekend to see Mike. Would it be okay if I spent that weekend with you guys? And because they were grown ups and polite they said of course it would be okay.

I begged my entire family of grandparents, aunts, uncles and parents to chip in for a plane ticket for my birthday. Family weekend at the Air Force Academy was on Labor Day weekend and my birthday is September 7th so the timing was perfect. Being 17 and never having booked an airplane ticket, I called a travel agent that my Grandma used for her Caribbean cruise and she got me booked on a Continental Airlines flight to Colorado. Mike's parents and I decided we wouldn't tell Mike that I was coming and we'd let it be a surprise. So as Mike prepared for his first weekend of freedom, I packed my bags to surprise a boy that was not my boyfriend but with whom I was in love with and we would spend this first weekend together while his parents looked on, having no idea of how far deep our emotions had grown by this point.

I remember that I had a layover in Denver. The guy that sat next to me on the tiny plane headed for the Springs was treated to my nervous jabbering about who I was and why I was going to Colorado and how the boy I was going to see didn't even know I was coming and what if he was disappointed I came out and crashed his weekend of freedom and relaxation with his parents and how much longer was our flight? Finally, this kind gentleman in the seat next to me offered to set his digital Casio watch to countdown the minutes until our flight would land. He even took off his watch and handed it to me to hold to calm me down (or so I would just shut up). I stared at the numbers as they counted down the time until our wheels would touch down in Colorado Springs and Mike and his parents would be waiting at my gate to pick me up. Mike's mother takes daily thyroid medicine and had told Mike that she left her medication in California so someone they knew was flying to Colorado Springs this weekend and would be bringing her medication to her. Mike didn't know that the person bringing her medication was me.

Wheels touched down. The door of the plane opened. The jet way was extended to the plane. I grabbed my carry-on luggage and started down the jet way. Holy load of good gravy what the HELL was I thinking? Why was I here? Abort! Abort! Oh no. Oh no. OH. NO.