Small Town, Big Dreams

Summer school turned into the fall semester and I asked Sam for advice. She gave me her recommendations and my folks loved Alexis, and they gave me their support as well. For Thanksgiving our junior year Alexis and I went to Tampa and went to Honeymoon Island, where a former Navy SEAL hidden in the bush captured the proposal for us on video. He had to reveal himself as Alexis started to prepare to give herself to me.

Her junior season was even more successful than her sophomore campaign and she became the All Around National championship and lead her whole team to the Runner Up team in the Super 6 National Finals.

That summer, with the help of her uncle and a couple of his navy buddies, they built an altar at "our spot" on Honeymoon Island. Scott was on leave and served as my Best Man, and Sam had found herself a male suitor who had become my best male friend on campus and my other groomsman. Sam and one of her teammates stood up with Alexis. We were married in front of a small crowd of family and then went ashore for a larger reception. We also had a reception in Iowa two weeks later.

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Maybe her folks were right. Being married while in school was difficult, but we were making it work. Her senior season started out promising until she snapped her leg during the rival meet with Iowa State. A serious compound fracture, and while starting treatment for infection they discovered we were pregnant, which made some treatments unavailable. She recovered and after several months of physical therapy she was technically ready to compete again, but she had given birth and her senior season had passed. I had graduated somehow but she hadn't because of the extent of her injuries she didn't finish on time.

She had given birth, worked out and during her last semester the NCAA granted her a medical waiver and she was able to compete. Against the same team a year after she had injured herself against in-state rival Iowa State, Alexis took to the vault. And the uneven bars. And the balance beam. And finally the floor exercise. I had been nervous before, but I wanted to throw up I was so nervous. Holding our baby girl, along with my parents and her parents, she walked out to the floor, saluted, posed and paused until the music started. Her performance was flawless and when she hit her final tumbling pass, the entire crowd of Hawkeyes and Cyclones erupted in cheer. She was the last performer of the night and received a perfect 10.00 score. Her team rushed the mat and at first, so did two Cyclone gymnasts, followed by the rest of the Iowa State team. Heated rivals, even the Cyclones knew what Alexis had gone through and they admired her for it. Many remembered the incident a year ago and would never forget it.

She won the All-Around competition, and then she retired from competition. She had won, and that was enough.

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It was our 5th anniversary. We had two kids at home and had relocated to Tampa. We were on a walk by "Our Spot" on Honeymoon Island, walking hand in hand. She had a flowy white sarong on and smelled of flowers, berries, and coconut. She had a scar on her leg that the plastic surgeon had done a nice job repairing. It was almost sunset, and she looked even more beautiful than ever.

I was the luckiest man alive.

"Any regrets?" she asked me.

No, of course not. Not for me, anyway. "I wish you could have tried out for the Olympics," I said.

She leaned in and laid her head on my shoulder, and breathed out a big sigh, and said, "Not me. It would have taken me away from you."

"Hey, know where we are?" I asked. Of course she knew. It was OUR spot.

"Well," she said, conspiratorially, "we can lie down on my sarong I suppose. Too bad there seems to be more and more people here all the time, though," she said.

"Not to worry," I said as I found a blanket and a picnic basket I had her uncle Randy stash for me hours before. "We have people that want to see us have a good time."

And baby number three was conceived...