A day to remember…

If you remember, the last we spoke, ROB and I had just gotten engaged.  It was November 2002 and we set the wedding date for July 26, 2003, lots to do with little time.  Since ROB had been married once before, he wanted me to have the wedding on my dreams and pretty much let me make the plans.  I started, photographer…check; cake…check; dress…check; menu…check and so one.  Then it came time to the reception spot.  Right across from the church we were going to be married at was a Holiday Inn.  How perfect, easy to commute to, people can stay and from what I had heard, they did a really nice job with weddings.  So one night, ROB and I went over.  We walked the hotel, had dinner, sat in the bar and even sat out on one of the balconies and just watched the people strolling by and talking.  His comment was, “I THINK THIS IS IT! IT LOOKS & FEELS LIKE US AND THERE’S A COUPLE BARS CLOSE BY!”  Right there should have been a huge clue!  Did I take the warning? NOPE, I just thought it was a comment in passing.  So we booked it! My parents were paying for the wedding so that SURELY didn’t bother ROB one bit…as a matter of fact, he never even asked how much it was going to cost.

The big day came.  It was 95 in Minnesota, the church didn’t have air and I had on a long sleeve dress with a full train.   I thought I was going to die!  But it was great.  I remember my dad being a little jittery, but hey, I’m his baby girl and from what I have heard, that’s just how dad’s act when this big day comes.  We went on to the reception and all was fine.  We danced, Rob drank, we toasted, Rob drank, we had the dollar dance, ROB drank.  I think you see the theme here.  The end of the night finally came and we went up to our suite.  The bridesmaids had sent up food & champagne so that we could relax.  I just remember wanting to take a shower and get out of that dress.  All ROB could think about was opening those damn cards to see how much money was in them.  Fine, let’s do this so I can get in the shower.

Four months into our marriage, Thanksgiving was coming.  I told both families that I wanted to host since this was our first holiday together.  I loved to entertain and put my skills to work.  Two days before the big day, I had all the fixings ready to go.  Since I had started a job where I was an independent contractor, I was able to work from home and make sure that everything was perfect.  I set the table, cleaned the home and made sure everything was perfect.  Not once did ROB acknowledge all the prework I had already done.  The night before Thanksgiving, ROB called me and said that he was going to stop at the bar on his way home.  It wasn’t going to be late as he was only going to have one and then be on his way home.  I was shocked when he asked if there was anything he needed from the grocery store on his way home.  I told him as a matter of fact there was about 4 things but I needed to know for sure that he would get them.  He promised me, told me he loved and I would see him soon.

It was 11 o’clock when I finally went to bed and ROB had still not come home.  Since I had to be up at 5 am to get the turkey going, I thought it in my best interest to get some sleep.  At 1:15am my phone rang.  Groggy as I was, I answered the phone and almost go sick to my stomach thinking something had happened to ROB! Oh yeah, something had happened all right, he had gotten completely wasted and the bouncers had told him that if they saw him leave the bar & drive, they would call the police.  ROB’s sister thought it in ROB’s best interest to call me to come and get him.  I told her to put him in a cab, I would wait for him to come home and pay the cab driver when they arrived.  She said that he was very agitated and I better come now to get him.  I had a 20 minute drive to get there.  I crawled out of bed, still in my jammies, I put on my coat, got into my Mercedes he had gotten me and off I went.  It was a cold snowy night, but I dredged forward.  When I got to the bar, I pulled up front called ROB’s phone and told him I was out front and he had 2 minutes to get in the car.  To my surprise, ROB hung up on me….OH REALLY, I thought!!!!!  With smoke coming out of my ears, I stormed into that bar; walked right up to ROB and told him to get his ass in the car immediately.  His jaw fell on the floor and he told me to get the fuck out of the bar.

I went out to the car and ROB followed behind me.  Once we got onto the freeway, ROB started in…who the hell did I think I was to embarrass him like that in HIS bar?  I was the biggest bitch he had ever met and what a cunt I had turned out to be. He had had it.  We were going to do this Thanksgiving thing and the very next day, he was going to contact and attorney and divorce my ass.

I drove in shock the rest of the way home with tears streaming down my face.  How could this have happened to me?  All I had ever done was love this man and put up with some of his other faults…how could he say this to me?  I remember sitting up the rest of that night; crying and trying to figure out what to do.  Oh I figured it out.  I was going to go forward with this Thanksgiving dinner, but I was the one that was going to make the toast and what a toast it would be.

See how that toast goes in the next entry of Moving onto Happiness…A Minnesota Girls Divorce Story!

Is it LOVE?

As you recall, the last time we were together, ROB was drunk dialing my aunt and trying to find me.  After 11 years of being in a relationship with the same person I had met right after leaving ROB, I called it off with that person.  We had been engaged twice, had lots of firsts; but just couldn’t make it work.  So I moved on to what I thought would be greener pastures.  I dated a few guys, but for some reason ROB kept coming back to my mind.

I had a few bad relationships, got into some trouble and was kind of on a train out of control.  One night, my cousin called and said that her and a really good friend of ours were going to be going to a party.  I told her to have fun, be safe and call me in the morning.  No, No, No…there was going to be none of that.  I was to put on my summer dress, do my hair and wear my smile.  They were on their way to pick me up.  We met up with the guy she was seeing at the time and they brought us to a  party.  I wish I could tell you all where this party was, but truly I have no idea other than I knew I was a long way from home and didn’t know anyone at this party.

I started to mingle and then WHAM it happened…as I am talking with a gentlemen, I hear my name from behind me.  I turned around and there he was…ROB! WOW! What a site.  His piercing blue eyes, that dark hair and  smile.  He looked the same as I had always remembered him.  He asked if I even remembered who he was…oh I remembered.  We talked for sometime and he asked me for my number.  I gave it to him and as my cousing & I were driving home, me telling my cousin all that went on and who he was, my phone rang.  It was ROB.  Oh lord, she told me answer it and the rest was history.  We spent every moment together from then on.

He was charming, thoughtful, generous & kind.  Or so I thought.  We were together for about 2 months I moved into his place.  We took a couple of trips together, I got to meet his friends that lived out-of-state.  He sent a dozen long stem red roses to my work every other week like clock work.  I got a song a day every day with the kindest notes attached via email each morning I went to work professing his love and how he could not live again without me in his life.  My co-workers LOVED him, what a splendid guy, he would send my department lunch once in a while.

We started dating in June, by August I was living with him, November we got engaged…he took me to Mexico, chartered a boat and proposed to me with a Tiffany’s ring and over a 1 carat center stone.  I remember standing on that boat thinking what the hell!!!!  How can this be happening to me? Is this for real?  I am ready to be an instant mom?  Oh yeah, did I mention he had a son from a previous marriage and cheated on his first wife with another girl I had gone to high school with?  Yeah, that happened.  If I am going to bring you up to date, I guess I have to give you all the gory details.  I accepted his ring, we celebrated and I thought the magic was going to be fabulous.

We talked; I mean we talked about EVERYTHING!  I told him how hurt I was when he cheated on me in the past, but I guess it was meant to be as he got a wonderful son out of it, whom I had grown to love and adore with every piece of my heart.  I remember asking him, “IF WE EVER BECOME FLAT BROKE AND LIVING IN A BOX UNDER A BRIDGE, WOULD YOU STILL LOVE ME ENOUGH TO STICK WITH ME THROUGH THE TOUGH TIMES?”  His reply, was that he had looked for me for 15 years; nothing ever again would come between us…what a crock of crap that turned out to be.

The story continues…stay tuned for more!