What's Love Got To Do With It?

Simply everything....

I met him when I was fourteen. It was October, my second month in high school. This really good looking guy was standing next to one of my classes, leaning against a brick wall. Dressed in jeans, a pair of cowboy boots, and a black t-shirt, he was everything my heart desired.

Brilliant blue eyes looked at me then glanced away. My heart was in my throat. His handsome face came with sharp planes and angles. A strong jawline and beautiful lips framed an enticing smile.

My heart did a double-flip. I didn't know how I was going to meet him, but I knew I would.

Several days later.

"Hey, you know Terry Carroll?" asked some guy I'd never met before.

"Yes. A friend of mine is going steady with him. Karen Lebo."

"Well, his brother wants to meet you."

"Ah, okay."

The guy, who turned out to be Ed Soroto, introduced us and the rest is history. At least in my family. It was the guy in the black t-shirt, Dennis Carroll. Two years later we had a baby. A little girl we named Shannon. Four years later we had Denny, and four years after that our Ryan came along. My friend Karen married my husband's brother. It went like this: She had a baby girl, I had a baby girl, she had a baby boy, I had a baby boy, then finally I had a baby boy and she followed with a baby boy. We raised our kids together and to this day we remain the best of friends, even though Terry passed over almost thirteen years ago. Much, much too soon.

Our kids grew up and married and then the grandchildren arrived. Karen and Terry had five girls all in a row. We had five boys. Then they had two more girls and we finally got the girls we dreamed of having. Our last granddaughter is Allison Ann Carroll. That's her picture above. She is our ray of sunshine, our littlest, our last.

They said our marriages wouldn't make it because we were too young. However, we had different ideas. Nothing worth having ever comes easy and we had our ups and downs. What we learned is that during marriage people grow together, they grow apart, and then they grow together again. We learned how to forgive, how to look to the future, and how to treasure those we love.

There's thirty of us now and we still get together. Sometimes the kids and even the cousins fight, but they always make up. Because there are so many of us, we have learned to deal with different personalities, discovering along the way that love always sees you though.

For me, that's what love has to do with it. Building strong families and relationships that will see you through the hard times. Life will always throw curve balls and it is blessing to have those you love around you.

(((hugs)))

Louann

Drop by my fellow author's blogs to discover what love means to them. Don't forget to take part in the raffle copter to win great prizes!

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