Before The Beginning
Only a couple weeks late with my Valentine’s Day love story, but that’s par for the course. I struggle with the language of love, and find it especially difficult when all of you are making it look so effortless.
Anyway, here’s what came just before the beginning. I think it’s important because it shapes everything that follows.
It was 1989, and I had JUST split up with my (sociopathic) ex-husband.
By split up, I mean I gave him a ride, and my blessing, to go live with a woman he met at a court-appointed drug rehab for a cocaine habit he developed when I allowed him access to my savings account…money I had recently received when my dad passed away.
My mom had died a few months before that, so needless to say, my world was turned upside-down.
But, oddly enough, I felt almost euphoric. I had my daughter, who was six, and by some miracle, taking it all in stride. And after seven years with an abusive, addictive jerk, someone I supported financially and had never really loved, I felt free for the first time.
You know that line from Already Gone…
♫♪ So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains
And we never even know we have the key ♪♫?
Just a few short weeks later, a dear friend called. She was madly in love, in a happy relationship with a guy who lived near me (still at my dad’s house). She was the only person I let in during my first failed attempt at college, and I was thrilled to hear from her.
When I mentioned the break-up, she asked if I’d consider a roommate. She offered to watch my little girl as much as she could while I was at work. It was the answer to both of our prayers.
She let me know she’d be moving in later that week. A friend, her boyfriend’s cousin, was coming to help…
Let’s just say I’ve been with her boyfriend’s cousin for 28 years now.
Stay tuned for part two…coming soon-ish.
Here’s the link to Part Two — Maybe I’m Amazed.
