(time skip)

Eddie and I got married on June 14th, 1987. I was going on twenty and Eddie on twenty one

I had found out I was pregnant less than two months after we got married.

Our son William Wayne Munson, (Billy for short) was born a week early on April 7th, at three in the morning.

To say that Uncle Wayne was ecstatic was an understatement. When he found out the baby had his name, he cried so hard he had to sit down.

My parents and sister had moved to the city after Mike graduated. He was going to college with all of the party members in Nevada, their home away from home.

Dustin was studying engineering, Will was majoring in fine art, Mike was getting a business degree, Lucas was studying to become a lawyer and Max was going to college to become a music producer. El was going to become a kindergarten teacher.

Joyce and Hopper got married and moved to start a farm together in Montana. Last I heard about Jonathan, he was selling "all natural remedies" out of the back of a van with Argyle.

Nancy and Robin got married in New York in 1989. They adopted two cats and traveled the country together.

Steve and Gareth never left Hawkins. They only left during their summer vacations where they would rent an RV and travel the country. The got married in private, sending everyone a post card from California saying "Just Married!"

Eddie and I bought a house right next door to them and we became the best neighbors ever. Cookouts in the summer and snowball fights in the winter.

And the house next to them belongs to Wayne and Susan, who coincidentally got married only a month before Eddie and I.

Eddie managed to get a music deal from an up and coming record label that relocated to Hawkins in 1988. He formed a new group with just Gareth called the Uptown Rejects.

Their combined income paid for the three houses side by side and there was still money left over to buy Susan a new car.

On little Billy's third birthday, Max came to visit her mom and met the baby for the first time. She swore up and down that she could see her brothers reflection in the baby's eyes.

I believed her, because of course, as we all know, anything is possible.

Spring (March) of 1990 I found out I was pregnant again, this time with a girl.

Per Eddie's request, we named her Chrissy. Christine Jane Munson, after the two girls that started it all.

And now in 1991, it is the first Christmas with everyone home from college and visiting from out of town. Everyone wants to meet baby Chrissy and catch up on the years we spent apart.

I was happy seeing everyone in my home, doing well and sharing stories.

Dustin brought Suzie along for the trip. El was showing off her long hair that almost touches the floor. Max and Lucas were laughing at some sort of business joke that Mike had said. Will was drawing the Christmas tree with his new set of pastels.

Nancy and Robin brought their cats along for the trip, Eddie and I decided that they would be staying at Steve's house.

Joyce and Hopper had mailed us a christmas card, claiming they were too old to travel.

My mom, dad and sister were coming up after the new year. Holly loved Christmas because of her name, and this year she finally got to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in all its glory.

Wayne and Susan were taking turns holding little baby Chrissy, she was sleeping despite the noise.

Eddie sat down next to me while soft Christmas music was playing from the kitchen.

"We did it, didn't we?" Eddie looked at me.

"We sure did," I replied, watching Max and Billy play together.

"Thank you for giving me this amazing life," Eddie smiled at me.

"Thank you for loving me endlessly," I replied.

Eddie leaned over and kissed me.

I felt a tear roll down my cheek.

"Why're you crying mama? Are you sad?" Billy asked, walking up to me.

"No baby. I'm happy. Sometimes tears don't need to be sad," I explained.

Billy sat next to Eddie and yawned, curling into his side.

"A toast to our hosts," Robin raised a glass.

Eddie handed me a glass and I smiled, wiping my tears away.

I stood up and Eddie stood next to me, holding Billy in his arms. "I want to thank you all for coming. You all came from far away or right down the street. Everyone in this room is family, and you guys have been the most influential people in my life. So toast to family. We will always find our way back to each other. Raise your glass. Let's toast to everyone here today, and everyone that we wish was still with us. This family, our family together."

I raised my glass and everyone followed suit.

"To family!"

I drank the eggnog in the glass and smiled.

Sitting back down, I watched Mike open a present from Will, a beautiful portrait of their party members, now including Suzie.

I could feel tears in my eyes again.

I got up after a few minutes and quietly walked to the kitchen.

Looking outside the window, there was snow on the ground. A breeze was making flurries of falling snow.

The moon was out, the streetlights were on.

But I still managed to see a star shining through the clouds and the light, looking brighter than the snow on the ground.

And I could swear it spoke to me, in my head.

You did good kid.

I blinked and the star was gone.

I refilled my glass and sat back down next to Eddie with a sleeping Billy next to him. 

To this day, I think about that star. Maybe it was because I was so exhausted that I saw it, maybe it was a hallucination.

But there's a time in your life when you stop asking questions because you feel like you know the answer.

Because at the end of the day, we've seen stranger things.