I will never forget that tragic day, July 14th, 2002. That was the day I lost the love of my life in an automobile accident. My lovely wife, Caroline, was driving home from the grocery store when a drunk driver ran a stop sign, abruptly ending her life.
I still haven't gotten over losing her. I can't imagine ever trying to replace her love with another woman, having only dated a few times over the past ten years since her death. Those few dates weren't even my idea, friends and co-workers were constantly trying to set me up, hoping to put an end to my ten year state of depression.
Caroline and I were married young, after dating throughout high school and having a baby during our junior year. Caroline dropped out of school to take care of our little baby, Angela when she was only 16 years old. We were married the day after my high school graduation, in 1992.
I won't lie, it's been a tough life at times, even before the accident. I usually worked two jobs to provide for my family as Caroline wanted to stay home and raise our daughter. My primary job was as an automobile mechanic at a Ford dealership but I picked up odd jobs here and there as well, just enough to make ends meet.
As Angela entered kindergarten, Caroline took a job working part-time as a waitress, making pretty good money at it too. I was able to cut back to just my primary job and go to school at night, hoping to better provide for my family. I graduated only a year before she died, earned a degree in accounting and quickly found a great job making twice what I was earning as an auto-mechanic. Life was looking up.
I won't go into details about how hard Angela took the loss of her mother, I think that goes without saying. My little Angel, that's what I called Angela, was a spitting image of her Mom. She looked so much like her that at times I even slipped and called her Caroline. Angel was a beautiful young lady, now twenty years old. She attended college nearby while living at home with me.
I must admit, being only 36 years old with a 20 year old daughter had it's difficulties. We were so close in age that some of her friends were only a few years younger then me, and she had some great looking friends.
Enough time had gone by since her mother's passing that Angel was even trying to set me up on dates. Sometimes her girlfriends would even flirt with me, but I never crossed that line.
"Hey Dad, want to go camping with us this weekend?" Angel asked, tossing her books on the kitchen table one Friday afternoon.
"Camping with who?"
"Just a bunch of us girls from school. We're going to rough it in tents for the weekend."
"Who's going?"
"You know most of the girls, just a bunch of my friends from college."
"Well, I don't have anything else going on this weekend. Why not?" I said after considering my options.
"Great! You have that big tent still, don't you?" Angel asked.
"I'll have to dig it out of the attic."
"Please do, I don't want to sleep in a pup tent with the others. Our big tent is so nice."
"OK, help me get the stuff together," I said.
We found the old tent and a bunch of other camping gear that hadn't been used in over a decade. After inspecting everything, checking for stakes, tent poles and holes in the air mattresses, we packed the SUV full of supplies. This wasn't exactly going to be 'roughing it' as we brought just about everything we'd need.
"You girls will have to find other transportation, there's only room for me in my car," I said.
"No problem, there will be at least three other cars going along."
Knowing I'd have a full day of setting up camp the next day, I went to bed early. As usual, my last thoughts of the day were of days when Caroline was alive. This was the kind of stuff she'd do, go camping at the drop of a hat with no planning. I loved that about her, her love of life and she enjoyed every day to it's fullest.
I woke up early, startled by an impending ejaculation. Yes, I was having a wet dream, dreaming about an earlier time with Caroline. The dream was so real, I felt like we were actually making love, and just as I made a complete mess of my underwear, my eyes opened.
Come on guys, we've all had them, but what a fucking mess. God, I missed Caroline! I threw back the covers, grabbed a clean pair of underwear and headed for the shower.
"Good morning Dad," Angel said, standing at the sink, brushing her teeth. "Do you need the bathroom?" she asked, looking at my cum soaked underwear, a slight grim forming.
I covered up quickly, trying to hide my predicament, hiding behind my clean underwear, dangling from my grasp in front of my crotch.
"Ah, please," I said. "Now."
Angel rinsed her mouth and stood back, watching me closely as I shut the bathroom door behind me. I know she knew what had happened. Although, my baby Angela probably didn't know about wet dreams, it's a guy thing. Wet dreams are kind of like masturbation, all men do it but few will admit to it.
I showered and got ready for our trip, then grabbed a quick breakfast as Angela talked on her cell phone with her friends. I overheard her say that we were meeting them in an hour, good to know.
"So, where are we meeting your friends and where are we going?"
"They're all coming here and we're going to the State Park. There's a great hiking trail, we're going to camp about a mile from the parking lot."
"A mile!?"
"Maybe not quite that far, we want privacy."
"Who's going to lug all of this shit?"
"Oh, we'll all take something."
"This tent alone weighs 35 pounds!"
"You're a big strong man, you shouldn't have any problem carrying it," she said, winking.
Somehow, I knew this wasn't going to be a relaxing weekend. I had an idea I'd be making a few trips back and forth, up and down the hiking trail.
A horn honked in the driveway alerting us that they'd arrived. I looked out the window, observing a mini van and two small cars full of college girls waiting for us. Angel slammed the door behind her without saying a word to me, leaving me to lock up and make sure all the details were taken care of with the house. As I washed the dishes and grabbed the few items I hadn't put in the car, all I could hear were girls laughing and screaming. I shut and locked the front door, trying not to notice the girls, all adults, as I unlocked my SUV's door and slid in. I put the window down and could hear a few conversations.
"Let's go girls!" I said.
"OK Dad, follow us!"
"Damn girl, I want your Dad all to myself this weekend," one girl muttered.
"No way, share!" another said.
