Marriage

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At this point I had not completely quit partying but had slowed down considerably. I tried to find more constructive things to do with my time. I had enrolled in college and was taking two night classes to help me excel in my career at work. What I did not realize was that I was mentally wearing myself out and the stress was slowing getting to me. Then one day things finally came to a head. It all started when a good friend from high school named Homer, who I had recently reconnected with, had invited me out for a night. His fiancée had a friend who was also a single parent who she wanted to introduce me to. She thought we might hit it off. I hadn't dated at all since my divorce; in fact my attitude towards women in general was not very good. The way my marriage ended left a real bitter taste in my mouth and I really wasn't interested in getting into a relationship with anyone anytime soon.

We went to a place called Cat-Man-Do’s which was mainly a dance club with techno music. It was definitely a younger crowd than I was used to but after a few drinks I was ready to dance. My friend was not a dancer so his fiancée asked me to dance. I was having a real good time, but felt a little uneasy dancing with someone else’s fiancée. Then this beautiful redhead pulled her to the side and they started talking. Homer’s fiancée then pointed to her friend and said to me, “This is Janice, the girl I was telling you about.” She then said that she was getting tired and told Janice to dance with me. Well, I had never been with a redhead before, especially one this pretty so I was getting excited. We danced for a while then went and sat down and tried to talk but the music was too loud. We decided to go outside and get to know each other a little better. In short we really hit it off. There was an immediate attraction and I knew I wanted to see her again so I asked her out on a date for the next Friday night. This was before cell phones and she didn't have a home phone so we exchanged work numbers. We talked just about every day while we were at work and got to know each other more and more.

The Friday of our date had come and I was excited but nervous. I was sitting at my computer terminal, not really doing anything stressful, when all of a sudden the entire right side of my body went completely numb. I was 26 years old and in great shape so this was really scary. I called my boss over to me and told him what had happened and he and another coworker helped me to my boss’s car and took me to the doctor. The doctor ran test after test and could not find anything wrong with me. Then he gave me a shot to calm my nerves and then all of a sudden the feeling started coming back. After a while, when the shot began wearing off I started going numb again. He knew then that I had what is known as a stress attack. When I told him about my lifestyle of being a single parent with two sons, working a full-time job and going to school at night he knew what was going on and admitted me into the hospital for a week. No parenting, no work, no school. Not to mention there would be no date with this beautiful redhead in a few hours. Once I got in the hospital room I knew I had to call Janice and break our date. I just knew this would be the last I would hear from her. I had just met her and here I am in the hospital with a stress attack. If the fact that I was a single parent of two sons wasn't enough baggage, now I was going to appear to be mentally unstable as well. So I called her at work and told her that I was going to have to break our date for that night because I was in the hospital. I told her that I was really looking forward to our first official date but there was nothing I could do. Her response was nothing like I had expected; she said that we could still have our date and that she would come to the hospital and we could have our date in my room. I knew at that moment she was a gift from God!

She came that evening and stayed until visiting hours were over. Then she came back every evening afterwards and stayed with me as long as they would let her. Outside of my immediate family I had never experienced such love especially from someone I had just met. I needed an angel and God sent me one just when I needed her most. This occurred around March and December 29, 1989 she became my bride. She has stuck with me through thick and thin and together we have gone through many challenging times. They say what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger and I believe because we went through these times together our marriage has only gotten better and better over the years.

Check back tomorrow for Chapter 6, Our Journey Together

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