34 Seconds Read Online Free PDF

through a broken heart and barely survived, deep down he knew Will would just end up breaking my heart. If that was his reason, he sure was right. And he was there for months after Will and I broke up to wipe each and every tear and give me all the fatherly advice he could cram into a heartache session.
    The only person who actually had nothing negative to say about me going to the wedding was my own husband, and personally, I found it sort of odd. “I’ll call them when we get settled. Will you help me unpack the car, Daddy, before Chris and the kids get here? I’d also like to go see Nana for a bit before they get here. I forgot to send her a card for her birthday, and I could use a big hug.” My Nana gave the best hugs. Everyone loved Nana’s hugs, but we knew we all hugged her each time we saw her because it was the best way to measure how short she was becoming. It seemed each year she lost at least an inch. When I hit my peak height at a whopping 5’2”, I was the same height as Nana. I would have guessed that day she was about 4’10”. It was a long running family joke I was not sure she had ever understood. For that and so many other quirks about her, I love her more than the moon. She had been such a rock in our family, yet she had always been the one in the family we laughed at more than anyone else. She was a smart woman and had not forgotten a thing her entire life, except our names, of course. I kept thinking someone needed to sit down with her and get the history of our family because I knew it would die with her one day. She knew everyone in town and who was related to whom and how, and I had confidence her knowledge of the locals went back at least five generations. But the woman couldn’t remember a name to save her life. I’d been called Lori almost my entire life. Lori is my dad’s sister. Natalie had been called everything from Nikki (how she could be confused with me, I’d never understood) to Danny, who is my dad’s younger brother. Yep, Nana wasn’t prejudiced to gender. You could be a girl, and she’d still call you by a boy’s name.
    Caught in my daydream, as I was, Dad had to repeat himself again. “Nikki? I said I don’t think we have to go to see Nana; she’s on her way over here now.”
    Sure enough, I could see all 4’10” of her walking across the yard from her house next door. She was the only constant for me at home. I knew she was going to have aged each time I saw her, but she always looked solid, young, and the same as she did years ago. The family rock. Strong and sturdy. Even at four feet tall - maybe.
    “Nana!” I called to her as I ran out to greet her in the yard. Wrapping my arms around her, bending down further than ever before, I smiled my little girl smile. I was home! It did feel good. Bitter sweet, but good. Good like Nana’s fried chicken and apple pie good.
    “Oh my soul,” Nana said pinching my stomach. “Where did you go? You lost weight, Lori.” Lori, Nana had said, almost never Nikki. “How ya been? Where the girls? They came with ya, didn’t they? Dan come too? How was the flight? You know when I used to travel with your Pop, it didn’t used to take all day to get somewhere. I don’t know how in the world you travel like that today.” Dad and I ignored the reference to my husband as Dan. Chris was used to being referred to by another name. It was funny because it didn’t start happening until after we were married. I’ve told him it’s a sign he’s accepted as family. When we were dating, Nana always called him Chris, but after the wedding, he’d been Dan, Sam, Eric, and Steve, but almost never Chris.
    “Nana, the world has changed, security lines are long in airports, more people are flying than did thirty years ago, and it’s just something we are used to. Chris travels a lot for work, so it’s a way of life for him. It’s tough with two little kids, but it’s a lot easier than driving thirty hours in a minivan and stopping