We decided to take a trip to celebrate her diagnosis and my new position at a firm in Washington DC. She wanted to go to Europe. I wanted Tahiti. She won out.

We planned a trip to Amsterdam, Paris, Vienna, and end in Budapest. There would be several stops along the way, but we planned to spend at least a week in each of these hub cities.

The tickets were purchased, and bags were packed. Her doctors gave her three months' worth of medications, preparing her in case we were stuck somewhere.

We read the flight time wrong and arrived a few hours early, so we sat in the lounge waiting. Molly was so excited. I'd never seen her so happy. We were ready to begin our adventure when we heard her name called out over the PA system.

"Molly, please report to the gate at once."

We looked at each other, a shiver simultaneously running through us. Walking up to the counter, we saw the gate agent and no less than four armed police officers. They also had a K9 officer. I wanted to pet the poor thing as soon as I saw it. I've always felt that using dogs as a police force is animal cruelty.

"Ma'am, would you mind coming with us?" They approached Molly and took her by the arms. I started to protest until the third officer took me along with them.

We were led off the main terminal into a small office with a desk, four chairs, a water cooler, and a stapler. Molly immediately sat down and asked to see her attorney.

"I'm right here, Molly," I said.

"I mean the attorney that got my mom out of the Gulag."

"Oh, okay."

The officers looked at each other and then back at her.

"We brought you in here to see if you could answer a few questions we have." "Like what?" She asked, irritated.

"Don't answer them, Molly."

"Why are you taking several thousand dollars worth of cancer medications to Europe with you? Did you know international drug trafficking is a felony?" "Oh, that?" She laughed.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

They looked confused.

"I have cancer, you fucking assholes. Thanks for drawing attention to it. Oh, and for embarrassing us in front of the other passengers on our flight." She was pissed. I thought it was sexy as hell.

"Ma'am, we...umm, we didn't realize. That seemed like a large amount of medication for a vacation. Thank you for answering our questions, have a good, safe trip." We got up and left.

As we were sitting down in the lounge, the fourth officer caught up to us.

"I'd like to apologize again for that. We were out of line. We'd like to offer you this as a small gesture to make up for our mistake."

He set an envelope on the table and quickly exited the room.

Molly opened it and spilled the contents onto the table. It was $783.25. All the money they had on them.

She started to cry.

A Side Note

I'm going to try to piece our trip together from my memories and the letters she wrote me. That will be the most difficult part. I've kept those letters sealed for over 20 years. I just haven't been able to bring myself to open them. It's as if once I do, I'll have to admit that she's truly gone.

Also note this was in 1998, a few years before the Twin Towers and heightened restrictions at airports.

Amsterdam

The flight was uneventful. We left DC at 5:30 p.m., arriving in Amsterdam at around 7 a.m. Molly gave a letter with the money to a flight attendant with instructions to return it to the redheaded police officer at the DC airport on her return trip. I stayed behind and tipped her $100.00 to ensure that happened. We were tired, a bit ornery, and ready to start our vacation. A quick ride from the airport brought us to the central station. We planned on staying in the city, so we got a cab to take us. It turns out it was only a few blocks, and the driver ripped us off, but that's fine.

They need to make a living.

Arriving at our hotel was beautiful. We checked in, stepped into the room, and almost immediately fell asleep, or at least I did. Three hours later, we went exploring.

"Here we are. Amsterdam. I've dreamt of coming here since I was old enough to dream. The old buildings, ancient streets, smells of delicious foods and weed everywhere. I am blessed to be here with you. Thank you for this.

I know you will take me to the Rijksmuseum when you wake up, then Anne Frank's house. We could just sit at a cafe and watch people walk by until the end of time, and I would be happy as long as I was doing it with you.

I know my time is short, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that I know you have the strength to move on to conquer this grief. You will be able to find your next Molly. Sure, she won't be as cool as me, but that's almost impossible to achieve. I love you with my entire everything.

Molly

PS

There's an apple pie place in Amsterdam that's supposed to be one of the best in the world. I'd recommend it while we're here, but I fucking hate apple pie. Take Holly, or Julie, or Sammy, or whomever you bring back to Amsterdam."