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After laughing until he cried about the latest ideas of his seven grandchildren and their three Trent friends next door, Capt. R.E. Ludlow got up out of the bed he had fallen into and rolled around in, and touched up his costume. He had seen a performance once of Don Giovanni in which the man in the role of the Commendatore was having so much joy with his fellow performers– was it Kurt Möll? – that the camera caught him nearly smiling a few times, and could not miss his eyes sparkling from joy. Capt. Ludlow surprised himself by looking just like that in his costume for the same role.
“What – me – happy?”
It was not that Capt. Ludlow's life had not offered many moments of happiness – against all odds he had met the love of his life after a loss of a first marriage so devastating that it had contributed to taking his two children to the grave, and against all odds, he had gone and claimed all of their children and gathered them up into Ludlow Family 2.0.
It was just that, as he had heard many officers say near the end of their successful transition to civilian life, “nothing is more intense than war, but today, my life at home seems to have taken on that much meaning for peace and good and joy.”
This was a reflection of known fact: the United States was at a point in which civilian life was driven by petty consumerism and self-gratification at all costs. There was little in that to fully engage a man trained to serve a greater cause at all costs, and few people ready for the level of commitment a veteran offered and expected. As Capt. Ludlow knew all too well from his first marriage, some people offered the show of commitment only for the benefits it offered them, and played games at the spigot as long as they could while financing their real pursuits.
But Capt. Ludlow had been raised to know Who God was, and found Him there, on his 40th birthday, when he, crushed and broken by his own choice in a mate, remembered that it was more than going to chapel, more than the rituals that allowed him to keep his Virginian pride intact. God had never failed him, and never would – and after that, the widow Thalia Green had been illuminated in both glorious dappled sunlight and also the love of God for him to see and meet.
Almost 16 years into marriage later, six months into having collected all grandchildren, Capt. Ludlow realized: he was now at home – he was fully present, with no need for his mind to run backwards to a thousand scenes of conflict foreign and domestic to feel fully alive and worth something. His mind would still run there sometimes – PTSD was hardly going to go away with so many military and civilian reasons for it – but there was a difference between visiting a place and living there. Now, Capt. Ludlow would only be visiting, because he was now at home.
Just in case the captain had needed any extra help, there was a soft knock at the door, and a little brunette head poking in a moment later.
“I'm sorry, Papa, but it's just time to get up,” said eight-year-old Edwina Ludlow, another little Ludlow personality as direct as her grandfather. “The world is ready to hear you sing, and then it needs to see how good you look in that costume. Don't be afraid. It's all going to be all right. You've never been shy before, so, get on up and face the folks on the camera. I mean, it's going to go viral and all, but, you'll be just as good as an international star as you have everything else. It's inevitable, but it's OK.”
“Spell inevitable, and define it, Edwina.”
“Inevitable. I-N-E-V-I-T-A-B-L-E. A circumstance or event that cannot be avoided or evaded.”
“Very good, Edwina! Well, since my becoming a star cannot be avoided or evaded, I suppose I should go claim my rightful place.”
“That's the spirit, Papa!”
Capt. F.D. Maynor, who was producing these open-air green-screen scenes, slapped himself on the forehead when he saw Capt. Ludlow coming out of the house hand in hand with Edwina, but smiled.
“Look, friend,” Capt. Maynor said to Capt. Ludlow, “I remember when you were billed as 'Kurt Möll's understudy,' but I mean, did you have to get it down to where you look too happy to be doing this role?”
Capt. Ludlow just grinned.
“Well,” he said, “if you got to go home to Heaven and dine there at the end of your mission, and everyone you loved was there, how could you not be happy? You ever think about the fact that maybe Möll knew something we didn't?”
“Exactly,” Edwina said. “When you get to be with the people you love, pretend is pretend and real is real.”
“You are absolutely right, Edwina,” the grandfather said, “but this is adult conversation now. You can return to playing because your mission is complete too, in victory. I'm up, and I'll be up for the hour before we sing for real.”
And he knelt down and kissed his granddaughter and sent her on her way rejoicing, and stood up and dazzled the crowd with his smile.
Lieutenant L.T. Truss, who was going to sing the role of Don Giovanni, just stared in wistful amazement.
“I'd give my life to know what Capt. Ludlow knows and has,” he said to no one in particular.
Lieutenant E.T. Catalano, who was singing the role of Leporello, smiled to himself that he was in his role, trying to encourage his friend to change his life.
“That's about what it would cost,” he said gently, “but you might find the Lord's offer worth it.”
Crazy that he met the love of his life after a marriage that took his children’s life. Crazy stuff.
As it is mentioned further back in this serial tale (added onto by one story at least, every day), Capt. Ludlow married upon his graduation from West Point to a woman who he did not vet ... so not only did his children not have HIM during the times when he was away on military service, but their mother was out there spending his money on other men and good times... so, they, completely abandoned, turned to drugs, and the drugs eventually are what did them in. But two years after his divorce, bitter and broken and certain he would never deal with a woman again, but having asked for and received a transfer stateside to try to work things out with his children, he met a widow named Thalia Green ... and the rest is history.
Thalia had raised her children to adulthood by that time, and had been an excellent mother, so, she combined her abilities with Capt. Ludlow to love on Capt. Ludlow's children enough to get them and their partners into rehab a combined seven times ...so grandchildren Eleanor, Andrew, George, Edwina, Amanda, Grayson, and Lil' Robert would be born healthy. Capt. Ludlow, who loved his second wife greatly before that, cannot look at any of his grandchildren without remembering who labored with him to make sure they had a healthy chance at life. In addition to that, since her children were grown, the second Mrs. Ludlow had a chance to quiet her husband's fears about leaving a wife behind him ... she has mobile working skills, and so traveled the world with him on his deployment ... and then when they got back, she was right in there with him mourning for the loss of his children and scooping up those grandchildren and preparing for the adoption of all seven ... and this is why, at age 58, Capt. Ludlow knows for certain what he felt would be true at age 42: Thalia Green Ludlow is the love of his life.
Oh. Makes sense now. I just can't place when I hear women spend their husband's money on men. There's something disturbing about it to me. Beautiful story @deeanndmathews
It IS disturbing -- disrespectful and evil -- but many veterans go through this, and, even decades later, the pain is still there ... their children suffer greatly too ... a lot of what I write is stories I have been told, reworked ... giving a voice to those so often unheard ...
To see what some of those ten children of the Ludlows and Trents are like, here is a story about the five youngest that I posted in the Comedy Open Mic community ... get ready ...
https://peakd.com/hive-164166/@deeanndmathews/how-gracie-helped-her-amanda-and-edwina-get-their-crowns-with-some-engineering-support-from-lil-robert-and-grayson
@silviafx go to @deeanndmathews page and read this story from the beginning, it is a beautiful, heartwarming, heartbreaking, and love story all in one. It also has very funny moments with the things that 10 children can do.
Thank you so much. @myjob i just did and story made more sense,
You are welcome, @deeanndmathews is a talented writer.
Thank you for the endorsement, @myjob ... that means a lot to me!
You are welcome and deserve it.