@bloghomework
OK, you asked for it (and I WANT that lifetime membership)...
Our story begins on a balmy late-September day back in 1989.
Wait... what does this have to do with Valentine's Day? You'll have to keep reading.
I was a freshman in college and I had been on-campus only about three weeks. My girlfriend and I at the time had gotten really serious. How serious? I was 17 and she was 15 and we got it in our heads that we should get ENGAGED to make sure that the long distance thing worked out.
Now, add to this the fact that we were both born-again Christians so we weren't having sex. Per se. Put it this way: based on the rules we established in our own minds, we were virgins. In order to have sex we needed to be married so, there you are. That is what possesses a couple VERY young teenagers to start talking marriage.
I don't mean to drop a major spoiler this early in the story but this was one long distance relationship that just wasn't EVER going to work (gee, I wonder why...).
So anyway, I've been gone a total of THREE WEEKS. That's it. 21 days. This was before the days of cell phones so we hadn't talked in that amount of time either. Long distance calls from payphones were expensive and I was a broke college freshman.
I get a knock on my door that I have a phone call. I get excited because I'm pretty sure I know who it is.
I get on the phone and there's my sweetie. It was great to hear her voice after all that time and we started talking just like we always did. "I love yous" and "I love you mores" were exchanged but there was something about the tone of her voice that just didn't sound right.
Finally, I drag it out of her that she's seeing someone else - a guy who I knew and who had told me on numerous occasions that he wasn't interested in my girlfriend. <---big-ass red flag
I ask her what, precisely, was going on between them and I further find out that not only had this been going on for quite a while (yes, it started WAY before I left), but... let's just say she wasn't exactly saving herself for Jesus (or me for that matter).
Needless to say, I'm livid. We break up instantly, I tell her precisely what I think of her brand of "commitment" and tell her I don't want to speak to her EVER again.
That, of course, doesn't stop her from calling my dorm constantly only to have me walk down the hall to the phone and hang it up without a word. This had to have happened at least a dozen times or more.
So fast forward a few months - I've been home for Christmas and had her harassing me the whole time, I was several weeks into term 2 and on Valentine's Day I go to my mailbox and therein is the single most obnoxious valentine's card you've ever seen. Inside it are a dozen smaller cards with phrases like "I love you" "I'm sorry" and "You're the one" written on them.
The main card had a longer message. Of course, I'm thinking I'm about to read about how much she regretted cheating on me and how badly she wanted a second chance (which she was never actually going to get, of course), but what did I actually get? I got this (I'm changing the name of the cad who wooed her away from me for reasons I can't quite articulate):
(NOTE: it's been 25 years so this might not be 100% accurate but it's in the high 90 percentile I'm sure)
"My Love,
"I suppose I cannot blame you for not wanting to talk to me. I know I screwed up big time. I want you to know that I'm still in love with you and I can't imagine EVER spending my life with anyone but you.
"[Gary] is not a permanent fixture in my life. He knows it, I know it. He's just a life ring for me right now. He fills the void while you're away and keeps me from being lonely..."
oh, I'll bet he's filling your void...
"I know this whole thing bothers you and I get that, but please understand that I'm doing this for US. You are my Mr. Right. [Gary] is just Mr. Right Now because you're not here.
"I love you forever,
"[Cheating Trollop]"
Just to add insult to injury, there was this P.S.
"My dad is pissed about the phone bill and wants you to send him $20 to cover your half."
My half? You mean half the money it cost for you to call me incessantly so I could keep hanging up on you? That half?
So that was the "worst" part. What was the "best" part? Having a good laugh over the whole thing over dinner that night with the girl who replaced Miss Lonely. 25 years, 21 years of marriage, a kid and a mortgage later, we're still together and, yes, she knows I hang out here. How cool is THAT? :-)
