Things That Make Me Laugh Out Loud! :D

This Blog can cover anything, and everything, about my life, which does involve several serious topics, along the way. I have a really good sense of humor, though, and I LOVE TO LAUGH, especially OUT LOUD! I even seek out those things which I can count on to always (or almost always) make me laugh, because I know the importance of laughter in one's life. It is a joyful, freeing, and even healing experience, especially when you fully open yourself up to it, giving yourself over to it completely. Laughing helplessly feels so good (although, a word of caution about that: Occasionally, people have literally DIED LAUGHING! Think I'M KIDDING, about that? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deaths_from_laughter). The Bible says that "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." [Proverbs 17:22] Being very much into holistic health, I pay great attention to anything that the Word Of God wisely has to say about how we should best care for our triune self: body, soul, and spirit. There are no guarantees of our living a long, healthy, or happy life, on this Earth; but I seek out the things which are more beneficial to me, with that goal, as much as possible, like laughter, and Green Tea! I always welcome whatever, and whomever, brings light, love, and laughter into my life!

Earlier today, I took the time to check out some of the pins sent to me by Pinterest for one of my favorite board categories: Cute funny animals. Even when I tell myself I will just look at a few rows of them, I almost always end up still scrolling down the screen an hour later, laughing out loud at so many of these! Not only are the animal antics really hilarious, but those added, anthropomorphized, attributions that the pet parents include, with these photos, making them into memes, are also extremely comical. If I ever had to narrow down my HUMOR 'fix' to ONE source ONLY, I might have to pick Pinterest, for these very funny fur, feather, and fin memes! Another thing that makes me laugh, almost every day, is just watching the birds, squirrels, and rabbits, outside my apartment, simply being themselves! I find myself smiling every time I see them, because they all do such amazing and amusing things, at times. I am happy to provide them with birdseed, and other treats (yes, they're spoiled, now!), to be able to draw them near, underneath and around the large evergreen bush beside my patio, so that I can see them, up close. I enjoy these blue jays, cardinals, sparrows, and all the others that come to feed, as well as their calling and singing to one another, and most especially, them feeding their fledglings, all of which fascinates me in a never ending way. I share their joy with them, vicariously, so as not to scare them away. For me, this is one of life's simple but profound pleasures, and a very good example, I think, of what this anonymous quote is speaking of: "Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the things you have for which you would not take money."

Because of my sense of humor, which this post is about, while in my comedic (or, 'crazy'!) frame of mind, I have even given my houseplants 'sex education' lectures! I had originally bought a very small Aloe Vera plant, for around $5.00, from a lady who owned a flower and plant shop, in Omaha's Old Market, at that time. BOY, did I get my money's worth, out of THAT purchase! 'AL O' (named that, by me, for obvious reasons) grew so quickly that I had to repot 'him' almost right away. An offshoot soon came from 'his' side, which I then repotted, as well, and named 'Vera'. This happened like with Adam and Eve, only it was 'AL O' and 'Vera', now, and these two also started their own population explosion, with an ever multiplying number of offspring coming from them! After buying several more pots, for all of their descendants, and still not keeping up with their progeny, I had 'The Talk' with 'AL O' & 'Vera'! I told them that their prolific procreating was a growing problem (pun intended), leaving even RABBITS a distant second, in this behavior! There ended up being FOUR (not POTS but) LONG TRAYS, of their babies, on tables in my living room! I finally gave them a less enriched, cactus, soil, at their last repotting, to TRY to get them to slow down, from making so many little ones, in a desperate form of Aloe Vera BIRTH CONTROL! They are still getting enough nutrients from their soil to remain green, but it did reduce their reproductive activities. Since I only have so much space for all of my houseplants, this situation with them had called for 'drastic' measures, from me!

While we are on the subject of my houseplants, this is my funny story about 'Chris' tree: When I lived in an apartment in downtown Omaha, many years ago, I had a private patio. Being young, and unconcerned about cancer back then, I would sunbathe topless, out there, since it was surrounded by very high, plastered walls, with only the occasional, hovering, helicopter to invade my privacy and force me back inside until the pilot gave up his voyeurism and went on his way. One day, I noticed a very tiny little plant growing there, in the slender strip of soil, alongside the concrete floor of my patio. It was an evergreen 'tree', but so small that it only had 4 needles on its entire 'trunk'. Not long after, I plucked it, and potted it, to move with me to a new place, so it became an indoor plant then. As it continued to grow, and was finally beginning to look like an actual, though miniature, evergreen tree, I named it 'Chris tree'; short for 'Christmas tree'. Each time, over the years, that 'Chris' would eventually outgrow its pot, I would replant it, in an ever-larger one. Gardeners had advised me that, with it having been a houseplant for so many years, now, it could never be replanted back outdoors and survive the often extremely cold, at times below zero, Omaha winters. So, as the years passed, the time came when 'Chris' was no longer "tiny", and really needed a large floor pot! By then, I lived in an apartment in west Omaha, across the street from where I worked, at Oakview mall, in an upscale, anchor, department store, as a retail sales associate. I walked between my apartment and my job, cutting through the parking lot of the hardware store every day, on my way home.

Although they sold floor pots, I kept forgetting to go in, after work, and buy one, because I was rather mentally drained, by then, and distracted by my sore feet, after working my shift on the sales floor, attending to all the customers. I simply seemed to have a mental block about it! Yet, every time I came in the door of the apartment, and looked at my now nearly Christmas-tree-sized evergreen 'baby', so 'grown up' from the original tiny 'trunk' with the 4 small needles on it, my heart broke for the plight I had unwittingly put this tree in when I had plucked it from the patio to take it with me, when I moved away. (While the next tenant living there, after me, or the apartment staff, could have pulled it up out of the ground, as well, for any number of reasons, such as weeding, had I left it behind, there, the life of this TREE, and the quality of its life, was now clearly, and completely, in my hands.) Determined to NOT forget AGAIN, to buy it a large floor pot, on my way home after work, after several days in a row of my DOING that, I did what I often do, when something comes across my mind while I am busy or preoccupied, and I want to be sure I don't forget about it: I write myself a note, on my wrist, where it will later catch my eye. So, I made a quick note on my arm, using an ink pen at the cash register, just as I was beginning my next shift at the store, before I got busy, and tired. I waited on lots of people throughout the day, including ringing up their sales, and handing back the change after some of the cash transactions were completed. Finally, as my relief worker arrived, for the start of the next shift, I was finishing up my very last transaction, and had just given this woman her change, when this other employee grabbed me by the hand, as this customer was walking away with her bags. Looking at me in a very serious, and deeply concerned, way, and lowering her voice, as well, she asked me, "DEB, . . . YOU DON'T DO DRUGS, DO YOU?!?" Very shocked, and confused, by such a question from her, I asked her WHY she would even ASK me such a thing? Looking down at my arm, she drew my attention back to the note that I had written there, 8 hours earlier, so as not to forget to buy the floor pot that evening as I was headed home from work. The words that I had written there, which could have been visible to any number of store customers, as I was working at the register ringing up sales, folding, and bagging, their purchases, and making change, were in plain sight, in order to be seen by me, with no thought of anyone else being able to do so! Those words were: Buy pot for Chris.

I was a nightclub dancer, in this Go Go bar, many years ago. It was difficult to see very well in that darkened room, with all the little lights around the stage constantly flashing in my eyes, as well. Even the low ceiling of the stage was painted black, and because it was well worn, from all the dancers touching it to balance as we whirled around, the paint had been chipping off, in somewhat large flakes, for awhile now. One night, I was on stage when, in the middle of my dance, I put my hand on the stage ceiling, to better balance myself in the stiletto heels I was wearing. Just as I did that, I noticed a larger one of the paint flakes fall, from where my hand had touched the ceiling, and it actually landed IN the top of my costume! It amazed me that it had even been heavy enough to drop all the way in to my top, rather than simply land on, or stick to the sequins of, the outside of it. I no sooner had that thought, as I was still prancing and shimmying to the music, when that PAINT CHIP started SQUIRMING, down inside my costume! Knowing that this couldn't be right, I quickly slid my finger down into my top, to try to find out what this actually WAS, in there, and touched a fairly large insect, which was trying its best to move even deeper down into my costume in order to avoid any more probing from me! (Apparently, NEITHER ONE OF US was very happy about our chance encounter, on stage, that night!) Stifling a SCREAM, I quickly flipped it out of my top, using my finger, onto the floor of the stage, and saw that it was a black water bug or roach. UGH! It had matched the color of the stage ceiling, where it had previously been, before I had inadvertently interfered with its plans. Literally without missing a beat, of the Latin song that the DJ had played for me, I emphatically stomped it, once, with my high heel, and finished my dance, with both relief and a triumphant flair! I even got a tip for that move, from a customer, who didn't realize that I had actually been KILLING A COCKROACH, which had just been INSIDE MY TOP! In fact, this guy complimented me, for my dramatic flair, citing that particular move, during my dance, as showing my 'artistic expressiveness'. So, I got both a scare AND a tip from that experience! Who knew that a cockroach dropping into your bra can IMPROVE YOUR DANCE MOVES?

This particular bar was, and was therefore called, the Backdoor Lounge, of the Smoke Pit BBQ restaurant. It was a small room, with an L-shaped bar, and perhaps 20 tables. In the far corner of the room was a TV, anchored to the wall, mostly to keep the old, and bored, doorman amused and awake, since he had either gotten jaded, by his many years at the job, or had finally given up on his chances, after chasing the young women working there, for so long, becoming extremely indifferent toward, and very grouchy with, us. While there was no way to actually HEAR this TV, over the very loud music, it was possible to follow a televised ball game, or the newscasts, due to the video footage and the information on the screen. One night, I was sitting comfortably, relaxing with my regular customer, whom I was well past having to make 'innuendo infused' chitchat with, or answer the tedious, twenty or so, 'getting to know you' questions which inevitably came from each of the new guys. A TV news story caught our eye, because of the large red BREAKING NEWS banner, and we began to watch the TV, instead of whomever was on stage at the time, out of our concern about this serious situation which was unfolding somewhere. Now, this happened PRIOR to our getting a DJ in that bar, who kept the music going continuously; and this MAY even be the REASON WHY we got one, not long after this! Back then, there was just a jukebox, so there was 'a moment of silence', in between every song, while it changed out the records. This had provided for some FUNNY moments, in there, because of the things which could CLEARLY BE HEARD when the music suddenly stopped, while people were still speaking up, rather loudly, in their conversations in an attempt to make themselves heard over the blaring music! Depending on what was being said at the time, the sudden silence had led to some very red-faced people getting giggled at!

At the time, this guy and I were totally focused on the TV screen, discussing this serious news story with one another. Meanwhile, each dancer was required to do their two song set. Peggy, who went by the dancer alias 'Peaches', after her 'boob job', was just getting up on stage, to do the first dance of her set, when this news story came on, although I was oblivious to that at the time. (I considered her to be my very best friend there! We were always very supportive toward one another, in an environment where it was a tremendous comfort to KNOW that you had someone that was ALWAYS THERE FOR YOU!) JUST as her first dance FINISHED, I was saying to the guy that I was sitting with, still in my LOUD, OVER THE MUSIC, SHOUT, "OH, MY GOD!!! THAT is REALLY HORRIBLE!!!"  Feeling someone's eyes on me, intently, then, and looking to see if it was my turn to get up on stage, since I had lost track of it, I saw that 'Peaches' was up there, giving me a rather shocked and upset look, which said to me "YOU just SAID THAT AFTER MY DANCE, 'Stevie'! (my dancer alias)" Before the next song started, which could drown me out, I said, "I'm SORRY, 'Peaches'! I was talking about this terrible news story that's on TV, right now, NOT YOUR DANCE!" Although that was the real explanation, and I was in no way criticizing her dance, it didn't help matters any, since now most of the customers turned to look at the TV, pretty much ignoring 'Peaches' last song of her set, greatly minimizing her tip potential. I was really digging a hole for myself, with my friend, and I hadn't meant to, at all! I watched the start of her dance, trying to also keep track, now, because I followed her on stage, in the lineup that night, as well. The guy sitting with me said something else about the TV news story, though, with that pulling my attention back to it, because it was truly a really bad situation going on, and I responded to him, "THAT is JUST SO AWFUL!" Unfortunately though, for both 'Peaches' and I, I said that as her second dance had also just ended. So, twice in a row, now, when every one could CLEARLY HEAR those comments, it had seemed as though I was criticizing 'Peaches'' performance, which was not at all the case!

She just stood staring at me, from the stage, with a look of complete and utter disbelief that I had done that to her, however inadvertently, and not ONCE, but TWICE, as she sharply said, "STEVIE!!!", in an exasperated tone. My cheeks were burning hot with embarrassment, and frustration with myself, as I headed toward the stage, and a now glaring best friend, standing up there, waiting for me. I said, in that momentary quiet of the room, "'Peaches'! You KNOW that I was talking about the NEWS story on TV, and NOT about your dancing!" I felt so bad, about it! When our eyes met, though, while she was pulling me up onto the stage, after I had started to scramble up the side without the steps, to relieve her of being up there, as quickly as possible, I could see that, because she knew me so well, she knew my heart, and had decided that she thought it was actually PRETTY FUNNY! Seeing that in her eyes, and in her growing grin, at me, I went from feeling caring concern to comedic consolation, after knowing that she understood, and SHE FORGAVE ME! We started laughing out loud, then, standing on stage together in that moment, just busting a gut about it, before the song for my dance started. The hysterical ridiculousness, of how that had, unintentionally, all come together like that, to then turn into such an embarrassing moment, for us both, had suddenly struck us, leaving us weak in the knees from our full out belly laughing about it, now! When the first song of my set ended, after that, I looked over at her, with a twinkle in my eye and a smile on my face, waiting to see if 'Peaches' was going to pull a 'Pay Back', on me, then, which I probably had coming, from her; but she didn't. TRUE FRIENDS are one of the GREATEST GIFTS we can have in this life!

When my cockatiel, CeeBee  (who is in Heaven, now),  was still very young, he would always start shrilly calling me, whenever I was out of his sight. Bless his little bird heart, he was a real 'Mama's Boy'! Living in an apartment, with him, I was very conscious of my neighbors, and our noise, so I always tried to get him to quiet down, as expediently as possible, when this would happen! One day, I was taking a shower, after first getting him happily settled, so I thought, on the nearby bathroom vanity countertop. He was at least in the same room with me, now, so I was hoping that would suffice, for him. With me already soaking wet, I heard him begin to do that screaming, and knew that I had to act right away to get that stopped. So, I flung open the shower curtain, and dripping water all over the rug, said, "CeeBee, COME HERE!", as I quickly got him onto my hand, and then set him on top of the shower curtain rod, where he would now be able to see his "MAMA!!!". He had never had this 'bird's eye view', of me, before, and it amused me to see him looking all around, checking out the shower, and studying me, in it, so intently. As he kept watching me, I began to ask him, "CeeBee, do you like my legs?', which actually are slender and shapely, and, as if he knew the word, for these body parts, he gave my 'gams' a gander, and then approvingly answered "Whoo Hoo!" So, next, I asked the little guy if he liked my 'behind', which is round and shapely. Again, he responded to my question to him as if he actually, really, knew this word, and the corresponding anatomy, which amazed me in itself, apart from the apparently well-considered critique of his responses. He literally moved his crested head up and down, beginning with that question about my legs, seeming to study the subject, of each one of my questions, before he replied. Regarding my derriere, he even once again answered me with a (behaviorally) very thought-through and enthusiastic sounding "WHOOOO HOOOO!" (These vocalizations of his even sounded like the 'Wolf Whistles' which men do toward women that they are critiquing the body parts of.) Finally, feeling so charmed by his human-seeming behaviors, and responses, and his apparent affirmation of me in the nude, I asked him one last question. "CeeBee, do you like my breasts?" (They happen to not be my 'strongest' feature, as a fairly small--- though cute and perky!--- 34B.) After his looking directly at them, then, again with no prompting as to which body part that even was, CeeBee suddenly ruffled his feathers, and answered me with a very off-key, sour sounding "Aaaack!" Shocked by his astute answer, as well as by his feathered frankness, I said to him, laughing, "GET OUT OF MY SHOWER, YOU LITTLE PERVERT!" My little bird was more like a LITTLE MAN, that day, with his 'Wolf Whistles', at me, and his 'typical male' opinions, about my figure.  

I WELCOME LAUGHTER into my life, however and wherever I find it. I will even go around my apartment talking to myself, at times, making silly puns, just about everyday situations, as they arise, including while I sit on the toilet! It is important to have laughter in my life. It is just as vital, to my overall health and well-being, as it is for me to have Green Tea for my body, and meaningful music for my soul. More important than anything else, though, is my very real relationship with God, which includes praise, prayer, interacting with His Spirit, and reading His Words of Truth! It is true that laughter is 'good medicine', for all of us who are living on this planet; which is also oppressively filled with many extremely dire and daunting situations, and slippery and serious subjects, for us all to grapple with, as those who are currently sharing this Earth, and its issues and outcomes; along with all of Creation. For us to be fully fit, as humans, in the midst of all these things, we should also exercise our Funny Bone, on a regular basis!

My life is--- seriously!--- alot better off, and much healthier and happier, because I giggle and guffaw at every opportunity that I can do so . . . AND THAT'S NO LAUGHING MATTER!  : D

More On The One Man That I Would Love Forever: Ending Up In Omaha, & Married

In full disclosure, this has been such a difficult post for me to write that, if you are reading this now, that must mean that I FINALLY got THROUGH this process and published it on my Blog. >sigh!< At the moment, it is 1:30 PM on Saturday afternoon, 7/20/19, and as I sat down here to try, YET AGAIN, to get this post FINISHED, I realized that I have already been working on it FOR A FULL MONTH, now, and I am still a long way from being done with it! I actually started it when I began the previous post about this man, published 6/26/19, splitting off some of that for this post, seeing that there was no way that I could cover this specific subject matter in just one post (even though I have written some very LONG posts in this Blog!). I had begun writing that previous post, about him, on June 19th. As I started dealing with this second post, now, which covers more of our relationship, I have struggled so much with writing it that I have felt, most of the time, like any progress, I have made on it, has been two steps forward, then one step backward, which has been extremely frustrating for me! AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaagh!

This process, of my Blogging about my life, is internally similar to slowly but steadily releasing a series of sky lanterns, with me first bringing to light the subject matter, of each post, one at a time, for both me and you, the reader, to observe, and contemplate, for this moment, and then releasing it, to finally settle in its ultimate, often unknown, destination. I work extremely hard on these posts, living with each one both intimately and intensely as it is being prepared, which is often very difficult, painful, even anxiety-producing, for me to do! There is a real feeling of relief when I finally hit "Publish", and liberate it, to simply be what it is, in truth and in fact. When I am struggling to get a post to that place, it can often become extremely frustrating for me, just as it is now. I WANT TO BE DONE WITH IT, but I simply HAVE TO get THROUGH it, first! It's hard. (I just got tears in my eyes, typing those last two words, because it REALLY, TRULY IS HARD!) 

Now, as I ADD THIS PART, of this Blog post, during one of the many times that I edit the text, as I go, it is almost noon on Wednesday, July 24th, which is the day of the week that I have always published every post (except when I mistakenly deleted my 7/3 post, when I went in to post-edit it, as I also usually do, on 7/4, and had to re-publish it, then, on that date). I am sitting here having an anxiety attack right now. Knowing I simply couldn't complete this post in time to publish it, last week, I inserted one of my devotionals instead, which are, in themselves, both an important read and reminder, for us all! 

As I do my blogging, it is always prayerfully. In beseeching God, all through the process, as to what I am to DO ABOUT THIS POST, I strongly feel that He is Leading me to just go ahead and put this post out there, TODAY; even though I SEE IT as (STILL) being a VERY INCONGRUENT, IRRECONCILABLE, MESS, of emotions! Just as I am having to confront this shocking and frustrating reality, in me, now, as I reread my work on this post, again and again, eventually recognizing this reality, as a result of that, YOU will now also CLEARLY BE ABLE to SEE my CONFLICTING THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS, about this person whom this post is about. I have been unable to EDIT THAT (FACT!) OUT, because it is proving to be simply INSEPARABLE from the subject matter, which is this man.

While struggling mightily to produce this post, I FINALLY realized that the underlying difficulty, in my writing this one, has been that, even after 40 years, I apparently STILL lack a certain level of CLARITY about this relationship! This is precisely one of the reasons that my writing this Blog has been so important, and ultimately freeing, for me. As I address each topic, and prepare the post, or the posts, to describe it, I have to RELIVE all these things, from my past, exploring those emotions all over again, and examining my memories, to TRY to sort it all out in a coherent way, here. Those things can be messy to deal with. 

Writing this Blog has really helped me to focus on, and work through, each of these topics I am covering here, which will include almost everything about me, and about my life, somewhere along the way. Writing these posts can be difficult, and draining, for me to do, for a number of reasons. THIS ONE is proving to feel ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE for me to write, because I DIDN'T KNOW how MUCH of what I felt about this person had simply been stuffed, deep down, within me, FOR THE LAST 40 YEARS! Or, HOW CONFLICTED I HAVE BEEN ABOUT THIS MAN. 

This Blog is a VERY HONEST LOOK at my life, by me. I HAVE TO KNOW exactly what it IS, that I think and feel about these things, which I write about, in order to share here what those are! I HAD NO IDEA, UNTIL I began working on the posts about this man, that I had NEVER come to terms with SO MUCH of what I felt about this relationship. It was frankly SHOCKING to me! This was a VERY IMPORTANT revelation. 

Also, I think that the reason God is Leading me to simply publish it, in all the discordant messiness that it is, and reads like, as a result of that, is because apparently THAT IS THE POINT. THIS IS WHERE I ACTUALLY AM, regarding the relationship I had with this one man. It OBVIOUSLY (to me, now) ISN'T a relationship that I have been ABLE to come to terms with, or resolve within me, no matter HOW LONG IT'S BEEN, even trying AS HARD AS I CAN, to GET to that place. While I HAVE been able to do that, with ALL the other difficult subjects I have covered here, about my life, so far, I have been UNABLE to do so, with THIS.

I believe what God has been showing me is, first, that I AM EXTREMELY CONFLICTED about this person, and who, and what, they have been, in my life, and secondly, that I am NOT at a place NOW, or perhaps EVER, where THIS is no longer that way, for me. IT IS WHAT IT IS, in ALL its MESSINESS, and PAIN, and SADNESS, and HEARTBREAK . . . . it. is. what. it. is. 

I teared up, typing that, because I DON'T WANT to FEEL, or to BE hurt, the way I AM as I have been reliving this relationship, again, to write about it here, now; but there doesn't SEEM to BE anything more that I can DO about that, than to do what I am ALREADY DOING, and hope for clarity, and closure, about it, about HIM, at some point . . . . >sigh!<  

SO, I will KEEP TRYING to make sense of my conflicting emotions, and bring this post to a place of coherence, as best I can, today, to publish it, by the end of the day, now, COME HELL OR HIGH WATER, because I TRULY BELIEVE that God is Leading me to just GO AHEAD, and PUT THIS (MESS!) OUT THERE, and I "WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT" (2 Corinthians 5:7). Perhaps His POINT, to us ALL, with this, is that, in living our lives, on this fallen planet, we CAN'T ALWAYS get to the place that the EVENTS of our lives, or our EMOTIONS about them, CAN BE "nice and neat (or, rather, whitewashed and sweet) in order to make them more palatable, or easier to cope with, for anyone reading them" as the Header to my Blog says. 

This problem that I am having, DEALING WITH, and DOING, this post, about this man, touches on something, about me, AT MY VERY CORE, which is RAW AND REAL, and that is particularly painful to me. This is that I have lived my life, largely because of what I have been through, feeling the FUTILITY, at times, that "I TRIED!", from the FRUSTRATION that "MY BEST ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH!". However, as rough as it has been for me, sometimes, I remain a very grateful person, that sees clearly, and knows for sure, that it could have been ALOT worse, than it HAS been, FOR ME (and IS, for some people), and that I AM TRULY A REALLY GOOD PERSON, that contributes ALOT OF IMPORTANT THINGS, on this planet, by both how I manage, and manifest, my presence here. 

I DAILY GIVE GOD ALL THE PRAISE, GLORY, AND THANKS FOR THAT! Nobody does EVERYTHING right, in this life, OR has ALL the ANSWERS, about it.  But, I am 'hanging in there'; with a grateful heart; and there's ALOT to be SAID, for BOTH THOSE THINGS, to me!

This post HAS BEEN HELPING ME to see SOME things MORE CLEARLY, already, about my life, too! NOW, I can LOOK BACK and SEE WHY I MADE some of the CHOICES that I DID, including AFTER this was over with him, such as my KNOWINGLY marrying a boy-man, next, that I KNEW only NEEDED me as a MOTHER figure to him, and not a wife, et cetera. Since I was not ever OVER this man, emotionally, whom this post is about (though I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT, at the time, due to HOW ANGRY AND HURT I was, with and because of him), I MUST have SUBCONSCIOUSLY decided that I wouldn't really be ABLE to FIND ANY MAN that could REPLACE HIM, in my life, because, apparently, I felt DEEP DOWN that NOBODY COULD! As a VERY RECENT REVELATION, to myself, in working on these Blog posts, this could REALLY HELP ME to FINALLY MOVE FORWARD, with my life, and relationships, which have seemed 'stuck' in NEUTRAL for DECADES now! I NEVER KNEW WHY that WAS, until I HAD TO stare THIS part of my past in the face, and finally DEAL WITH IT, to cover it here. 

It is daunting, for me to do this; especially SUCH A LONG TIME after the relationship ENDED, between us! It is HUMILIATING, and DISTRESSING. I feel like SO MUCH of MY LIFE has been WASTED, by my loving this man, whom I truly believe NEVER ACTUALLY LOVED ME AT ALL! Our emotions greatly affect our decisions in life, even when we aren't actually AWARE of what those are! If I can get 'unstuck', though, at least emotionally, putting myself through this will be worth the pain of it, now. 

I HAVE NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE, regarding this man! I am HOPING that, as I am gaining this much-needed and long-neglected clarity about this relationship, that I will finally be freed of it, and perhaps even be able to say, some day, that he is NO LONGER 'The One Man That I Would Love Forever'! FOR NOW, I CONTINUE, coming to terms with this story, of US:   

I had been staying at my parents' house in Hickory, North Carolina, for a short time. They were pressing me for what I was going to do with my life, now, and I really wasn't sure; so that simply felt like more pressure on me, coming at me right on the heels of the deeply traumatic experience of my very recent Discharge from the Air Force [Reference my July 10, 2019, Blog post]. I was still very drained, and deeply depressed, from all that I had just been through. I desperately needed to find, and feel, some happiness in my life, again! I did know one thing for sure, though. I wasn't ever going to find that at my parents' place.

So, having saved some of my pay while I was in the service, I left there, and went back to Biloxi, Mississippi, to try to shake off my blues, and move forward with my future. At the time, I wasn't at all sure where, or what, 'forward' actually was, for me, though! It was just a-shot-in-the-dark decision, that young people especially, like myself at that time, can be prone to making, as a spontaneous reaction to the circumstances of life. Although it was now winter, on the calendar, I was headed back to the sunshine of the Gulf Coast, and the consolation of the beach, seeking some place that my soul could start to heal! 

There was another magnetic attraction to me, there, as well. I was still in love with Jim, the lieutenant whom I had basically lived with during my time stationed at Keesler Air Force Base, who was still in his Tech School there. I wondered if he felt any of the things, for me, that I felt for him; and because he mattered so much to me, I needed to find out.

I wasn't very optimistic about it, though, because he hadn't stayed in touch with me while I was at Offutt, and when I had come back to visit him, once, while I was stationed there, it was abundantly apparent to me that he was in no way hurting for companionship of any possible kind! Because I love someone with my whole heart, when I love them, it was very difficult for me to comprehend how he could enjoy what seemed, to me, like quantity over quality in his relationships.

The one-on-one intimacy, of (heterosexual) monogamy and fidelity, was the value that I always personally held as the Gold Standard for a true love relationship. As deeply as I loved Jim, though, I knew that was ultimately a decision that he simply had to make for himself. Just like Bonnie Raitt sings about in her song "I Can't Make You Love Me", my loving him was in no way any guarantee that he had once truly loved me, now loved me, or would ever love me at all! Because he meant more to me than any man I ever knew, and ever loved, though, I needed to find out exactly where things stood between the two of us. He hadn't stopped me, from coming to see him, and stay with him, with our having nonstop, hot, passionate sex together the entire time, during that one 3-day weekend, when I had flown back from Offutt, while I was still in the Air Force; and he wasn't stopping me, now, from staying with him at his place, either, while I figured out what to do now. 

To me, that said something about the relationship between us. Also, it didn't seem that any other woman had ever been living with him there, as I had basically been doing, previously, throughout my time stationed at Keesler, although I can't say for sure, since I hadn't been around for most of the time between then and now. Even so, I wasn't going to be emotionally equipped to deal with what the answers would actually turn out to be, to these questions that I had about us. Rather than the happiness I was seeking, for me, now, I would only find more heartbreak, especially regarding our relationship.

He had told me, a time or two, that his classmates at Tech School, with whom we socialized together, at times, had said to him that they didn't feel that we were right for one another [Reference my June 26, 2019 Blog post, "The One Man That I Would Love Forever"]. It seemed to me that, more than anything, he was allowing others to decide the matter for him, rather than his own heart and head, regarding our relationship. However, along the way, both he and I had both become ambivalent about one another, which seemed to be primarily due to us wanting two very different lifestyles, coming from what was apparently very different value systems, when all was said and done. I also wondered which side of him these other people, whose opinions he sought about us, were actually shown. Both of his Gemini sides were something that I had encountered, in my relationship with him, but he seemed well able to strategically control which part of his personality he would show to others, and when, and it was always clearly whichever one was to his benefit socially. 

This was not only the case when he was around his friends, but especially so when he was with his father, who had come to visit Jim in Biloxi, at least a couple of times, while he was in his Tech School there. I have always believed that the clincher, that caused me to be rejected by Jim, came when his father was there to stay with him for a visit while I was still stationed at Keesler. Jim had initially introduced me to his dad in a way that encouraged me, about the two of us together, by seeming enthusiastic about me, and acting proud that we were a couple. His dad was a very plainspoken Scotsman, who was brusque with his comments, including about me, so we ended up not hitting it off very well, at all. Jim was caught in the middle of that, but was also contributing to that problem some himself, by not speaking up. Was that from his own doubts?

When I was stationed at Keesler, Jim and his dad had taken me along with them to eat out at a restaurant, so that his father and I could get acquainted with one another. I could feel from Jim's behaviors that he had wanted his dad to like me, to see the good things in me, and it was also obvious that it was extremely important to Jim what his father's opinion of me would end up being. I felt confident about who I was as a person, and what Jim and I had together, then, though, so I wasn't worried about any potential pressure from all this, going into it. 

Sitting in the booth, as we ate, with Jim and I on one side of the table and his dad on the other, opposite the two of us so that he could see us together and talk with us both, there came a point that, as his dad talked with us, just about general topics, Jim had taken my hand in his, holding it there on the tabletop. That had always made me feel like I was special to him, going back to the very first day we met, when he had held my hand as we sat talking together in the Fish Bowl, on base! Not long after Jim had done this sweet gesture toward me, his dad stunned me, and galled me, though I 'stuffed' that so as not to make things more difficult for Jim, with this, by his commenting very assertively about "what kind of a girl holds a guy's hand in public" and how inappropriate and unbecoming THAT WAS-- OF ME! 

His SON had taken MY hand, which I am sure that he SAW, with his own eyes; and regardless, I couldn't imagine anyone thinking that this small, slight, display of affection was improper, or out of place, at all! It wasn't even militarily-frowned-upon PDA, because we were not wearing our uniforms at the time. I could sense Jim tensing up, with him quickly letting go of my hand, as he also realized that I was not going to be deemed 'acceptable' for a relationship with him, by his father, which we were already well into, by this time. 

In politeness to his dad, and to not make this any harder for Jim than it already had to be, since he had initially been so excited about my meeting his father, I managed to hold my tongue, remain courteous to his dad, and wished him a wonderful visit with his son, as they dropped me off at my barracks, since Jim's dad was going to be staying with him at his apartment for awhile. As they drove off, I headed into the building, to sleep in my room there for the duration of his dad's stay at Jim's apartment, where I normally was.

My reaction to what had just happened was that: (1) I didn't care much at all for this man, Jim's father, because of how unfairly he had twisted, and then categorized, the hand holding that HIS SON HAD DONE, WITH ME, and (2) with that kind of writing on the wall, regarding our relationship, I would be SMART to simply 'cut my losses' and be DONE with dating Jim. It was obvious that he highly valued, even coveted, his father's approval, and we would never be able to have his blessing, as a couple together. 

But, I was in love with this young man! I wasn't able to get myself free of the strong, deep, feelings I had for him, even though I was the one, never Jim, who had tried to break it off, between us, on several different occasions, while I was also stationed at Keesler. We always just ended up getting back together again, sometimes only being able to stay apart from one another, after one of these 'Final' breakups, for a matter of a few hours at most! It was awful, and sweet, and awful, and sweet, and awful . . . . 

I did think that we were DOOMED, as a couple, though, in my heart of hearts, at that point, because of the bottom line being that his father meant the world to him, and that man did not approve of us being together, at all. He, also, didn't think that I was right for Jim. As I have said here before, in my previous Blog post that was specifically about Jim, this was very difficult, and frustrating, for me, because of the fact that Jim and I seemed so happy, when we were alone together, without any of the 'outside interference' of others affecting that. How could we barely keep apart from one another, and each feel so fulfilled within our relationship together, if it was really as wrong for us as these others were saying?

I was both hurt and confused by that. It also had a real chilling effect on our relationship, as this began to undermine it more and more. Jim began to pull back from me, after seeing that the opinion of others, which he valued so greatly, would never align in our favor, just as I also began to pull back from him, due to my trying to save myself from the inevitable heartbreak of this situation. Even as we both tried to disengage from one another, for whatever reasons, there was something so strong between the two of us that we always ended up together again, though! Still, it steadily devolved into a relationship of Jim always having it both ways, which was neither healthy nor happy for me.

One of the ways you can know that I was completely in love with this man was by the fact that his father, whom I did not like very much at all, was also back in Biloxi, to visit Jim again, when I moved back there as a civilian; and I didn't avoid the situation. Neither did Jim! In fact, amazingly to me, Jim even allowed me to stay with him, then, as well. In his apartment. With them both! I did end up getting an apartment there, once I had obtained employment; but initially I was staying there at Jim's apartment, and was even all alone with his father while Jim was in school during the day. Out of love for Jim, I was courteous and kind to this man, who had disrespected me and my relationship with his son, when he was there previously. 

One day, as Jim's father asked me some personal things about my family background, and my life, I answered him honestly, but they were difficult things for me to talk about, which clearly showed on my face. Jim was on base at school, at the time. At one point, his father left the couch where he had been sitting and sat beside me on the living room floor, where I had been sitting near him, with my back against the couch, while we were talking there. He actually put an arm around me, and acted comforting to me, but there had never been anything at all like that, from him, toward me, before! So, I have to admit that, even if just for a moment, I wondered if this man was coming on to me! His face got so close to mine, feeling to me like he was moving in toward me a bit too close, so I looked down, then, as we kept talking more, just in case. It was confusing, and scary, to me, because he had to know that I was very much in love with his son, Jim, whom he and his wife had adopted as an infant. He had also previously made it very clear to me, going back to the hand holding criticism, during his previous visit, that he didn't think I was even actually much of 'a LADY', in his opinion, as if he even had the right to define who I should be, in the first place! It only added insult, to the injury, that the opinions of Jim's friends already held so much sway, over his own thinking, that their expressed doubts about us, being together, had now become a self-fulfilling prophecy, being as much a cause as an assessment.

I don't recall, now, the name of the strip joint, in Biloxi, that I got a job in, or exactly how that happened. Psychologists say that when a young woman has gone through traumatic sexual abuse(s), which I certainly had, in several significant ways, by this time, that this can actually cause her to become hypersexual in her behaviors, 'acting out' as a way of dealing with or compensating for those events in her life. I had also grown up watching TV showings of an autobiographical movie, from 1962, called "Gypsy", about the famous stripper, Gypsy Rose Lee, starring Natalie Wood. I was enamored with the story line, and fascinated by her stripper stylings. This place wasn't even as glamorous as those old burlesque theaters that she performed in, though. It was dark, dingy, sparsely decorated, and in no way had any appealing ambience to it at all. 

I had to bring my own 45 RPM records to play for my stripper sets, and go off stage, in between my 3 required songs, to change them out, on the old record player they had there. The first song was supposed to be 'dressed', in a sexy type of lingerie outfit; the second song was to be topless, and the third one was to be completely nude, except for the high heels on our feet, and, the pasties on our nipples. Thankfully, neither Jim nor his father came in there, to see my 'show', although they clearly knew that I worked there now. Being brand new to it, there wasn't a lot of stage 'show', by me, to be seen at the time! My 'performance' was more my walking around the big stage, on slippery, black satin, slide-style, high heels, with a black feather boa; both things I had bought in New Orleans, along with some quite sheer, and very small, lingerie, for it, after I got hired. 

I was feeling hurt by Jim's rejection of me, and his father's dislike of me, on top of all the trauma I had just gone through in the Air Force. Although, outwardly, I was acting upbeat about this new job, I was silently SCREAMING inside, for Jim to CARE ABOUT ME, enough to say that HE didn't want ME to be IN THERE! Sadly, though, that did not happen, as I kept trying to gauge, through the situation, as it was, where Jim, especially, stood with his feelings about me. Since men primarily see women as sexual objects, they would rarely ever think of the fact that this type of behavior by a girl may actually be her 'acting out', as a cry for help, or love, or both. Jim and his dad had even taken me out to dinner, FOR MY BIRTHDAY, in mid-February, but afterward they just dropped me off at the strip club for my shift. I didn't last very long at that job, though, despite the fact that these two men did not seem to care about me being in there. 

I was so completely naive, when I started working there, that I wasn't sure why the darkest, most secluded, area of the room was called 'The Passion Pit'! As I learned more about that place of business, I figured out it was mostly a front for prostitution they had the girls doing, and I quit before they could try to coerce me into that! I was there for such a very short time that they didn't even have any chance to try to 'groom' me to become one of their sex workers for them. Jim drove me over, one night, so that I could pick up the only paycheck that I had earned there, from my stripping.

[In an email from my now nearly-middle-aged son, which he sent me on April 22, 2019, he made a comment about what the relationship had actually been between his father and I, whom this post is about, by saying something to me which he seemed to believe was fact; apparently coming from his being misled by someone. Our son was only repeating what he had to have been told, but I would not ever have characterized it, to him, in such an extremely distorted way, as this CRAP was! It was imprecise and unsubstantial enough as to be rendered untruthful, in its summation of the relationship. I was extremely taken aback by that, since it had to mean that he was told that version by someone else, at some point in his life, which both demeaned and diminished the true nature and scope of my relationship with his father. 

My son stated to me in the email, which was (both to and about me): "No one 'Deserves' anyone else's respect; respect is earned. I can recognize and appreciate that you made an incredible sacrifice to give me the life that you knew I couldn't have, and I'm grateful for that. Not having kids of my own, I can't even imagine how difficult that would be. At the same time, despite how fortunate I am to have my life turn out the way it has -- for better or worse -- no one seems to stop and think how it feels to be the "mistake" of an exotic dancer and a young military guy." (I underlined the part of the comment he made, to me, that is most pertinent to this post, because I had N-E-V-E-R BEEN an "exotic dancer", during my entire relationship with his father, with everything that encompassed and involved, except for this few days to perhaps a week or so at most, that I stripped in this nightclub in Biloxi!) 

While I was used to being regularly discredited by my own mother, throughout my life, in such ways, and Jay had visited her in North Carolina, and he had also been to Elmira, to visit Jim's parents, who didn't like me, perhaps this had just been the version that Jim had told Linnea, since she had begun being involved with him while he and I were actually still legally married, and he probably felt like he had to cast himself in the best possible light, with her. I have to believe that this was probably the way Jim himself described the relationship he had with me, though, to our son, since I can't imagine that Jay would never have asked him about (his relationship with) his birth mother. 

It was so aggravating to me, when I read that, in my son's email to me, realizing Jim had to have been behind that LIE basically, since that stripper job was the ONLY thing that he COULD have referred to, then, since I didn't work as a dancer AT ALL, AGAIN, until after Jim and I were divorced, and I had transferred custody of Jay to him and Linnea, and had even worked as a CNA, for a couple of years, prior to dancing! Whoever told Jay that BULLCRAP, which I imagine was likely Jim, was being so self-protective and self-serving, and was really so disrespectful, doing that, toward not only me, and my relationship with him, but to our son too.

THE FACT IS that I only lasted around a WEEK or so, at that "exotic dancer" job, out of all the time that Jim and I were involved with one another; throughout the entire course of our relationship! I lost even more respect for Jim, after my reading Jay's email that summed up our relationship in that ridiculous way! I was very angry, seeing that in this email, since it characterized his father's behavior as being something so innocuous, which was unfair to me, and EXTREMELY MISLEADING (besides the fact that Jim was such a 'social butterfly' that, the entire time I knew him, LONELINESS-- from lack of human companionship, OF ANY KIND-- was never something that he suffered from!).

Out of my hurt, frustration, and extreme anger, over that, I responded to Jay by saying "If you could channel some of what you said in your email to me into song lyrics, you might finally be more able to write a song where the emotions were felt enough to make someone cry, making it A POWERFUL STATEMENT THEN. I cried. You are good with words, Jay! Much better in emails than in lyrics, though, it seems. Take this stuff between us and spit out a song from it all; MAKE IT COUNT FOR SOMETHING IN YOUR LIFE! USE IT! USE ME! There's GOT to be SOME value for you, at least artistically, in having a . . . (oh, yeah . . . ) "exotic dancer" mother and all the drama that has come from that. . . . I'll TAKE THAT BOX, Jay, and live in it HAPPILY, as THAT box was one of the truly FUN and HAPPY ones, for ME, in life! I LOVED it, and STILL kid with God about that, all the time, as I dance around the apartment to Bruno Mars music, saying I still WOULD if I still COULD! LOL "Exotic dancer." Stripper. Whatever.] TRY to get SOMETHING GOOD from these emails FOR YOUR MUSIC. God knows it could use some emotional elevation. . . ." Angry or not, I MEANT EVERY WORD.

While I DO kid with God about the fact that, due to the fun of that job, I would probably be a nightclub dancer again, if I could, now, that statement does NOT refer to that WEEK or so that I was an actual STRIPPER, in Biloxi. THAT lament, by me, refers to my years as a Go Go dancer, in the required thong bikini costumes, in the Omaha area, NOT TOPLESS OR NUDE; none of which took place at any time during my involvement with Jim, in any way, shape, or form! It disgusts me, that it seems that this very misleading version of 'us' is what Jim whittled it down to, or watered it down to, for our son, Jay! My cheeks are burning, right now, just typing about it! 

One of the hardest things for me to come to terms with, about Jim, has been that I loved, and still love, him---  because of the depth of MY capacity to love someone, which, even though I would like to be completely over him, and hope that I will be, in time, is to my credit, as a human being. BUT. There is that stubborn refusal, of my heart, to accept the fact that, from the very beginning, in the Fish Bowl at Keesler, where we met, Jim was likely hunting convenient enlisted prey, to serve his needs while he was in Tech School there, and then simply be dumped by him, which is, behaviorally, what basically did happen, with us. 

In other words, the ONE HUMAN BEING that I have loved more than ANY other, in my entire life, is most likely just a REAL JERK, that was NEVER WORTH, or WORTHY OF, the depth of love that I have felt for, and gave to, him. THAT also says something about ME, which has perhaps been the reason that I haven't been able to ever let go of the love that I have for him. I have had a GREAT DEAL of trouble ACKNOWLEDGING that I could even ever GIVE my heart to someone SO UNWORTHY OF IT. The opinions of Jim's father, and friends, aside, I believe that I WAS, AND AM, ACTUALLY TOO GOOD FOR HIM!

While Jim's father was visiting there, he slept in the bedroom, in the same bed where Jim and I had so much great sex, back when I was in the Air Force. One day, when his dad was out of the living room for a while, probably taking a shower, Jim wanted to have sex with me. One thing that the two of us NEVER had any problem with was OUR CHEMISTRY TOGETHER, sexually! I told him that I was not on birth control anymore, though. I had still been on the pill, when I had flown back to see him from Offutt, for that one 3-day weekend, the year before this, in 1980, after leaving Keesler to PCS to that other base. There are certain side effects, though, to taking birth control pills; and since it didn't make any sense for me to remain on them, when I was back to being celibate, after that one weekend with Jim, I went off of them. 

I hadn't had any sex, with any man, the entire time that I was in the Air Force, despite all the tremendous pressure on me to 'put out'; except for Jim, whom I was in love with. So, although I wanted him, just as much as he wanted me, now, sexually, I told him I didn't see how we could, because he didn't seem to have any rubbers handy, and I wasn't on the pill now! He pulled the cushions off the couch, onto the living room floor, and he said, "I will just pull out, then, before I come." I was nervous about it, but I trusted him, to do that. 

As soon as we were finished, however, I immediately sat up, in a panic, trying to drain my vagina of any semen. This is the only way I can describe what had happened to me, just before my doing that, because I was told that there is no way that I could possibly have been, then, or have known, as quickly as this, but it had FELT LIKE some 'fairy wand', with some kind of a STATIC SHOCK to it, had TOUCHED me, just as we finished, and having NEVER felt THAT STRANGE SENSATION, before this, I said to Jim, "I JUST GOT PREGNANT!"

I just knew that I knew that I knew, somehow, and I felt very apprehensive about that! I had never wanted to have kids, largely because of all the crap I went through in my own upbringing, and my concerns that it would negatively affect my raising a child, in some way or other, as well as the fact that I was extremely medically squeamish, also due to things I was put through as a child. Jim assured me he had pulled out, though, and told me I was worrying about nothing, basically. I DEEPLY hoped that he was right, about that!

Jim helped me get a better job, learning how to become a ballroom dance instructor at a studio where he had been involved in ballroom dance, while he was in this area. The owners taught me, and a few others also hired to train as teachers, the dance steps just ahead of our having to teach these same steps to paying students! I also got a morning job, at a restaurant, pouring coffee for breakfast customers and such. With more viable employment, I was then able to rent an apartment, close to the beach, in Gulfport, which was just down coastal Highway 90 from Biloxi. 

Jim's father had left, already, to return home to Elmira, New York, just before Jim's Tech School at Keesler finally came to an end, with Jim also just about to leave the area, AND ME, behind. He vacated his apartment, where we had so many of our memories together; staying with me, for a very short time, at my apartment, before he left for his next duty station. It felt strange, for us both, being there, instead of at his place. His apartment had been furnished, but mine was not, so we slept on the floor together, which was not particularly comfortable. There was NOTHING 'comfortable', about this ENTIRE situation! 

Jim seemed very subdued, for that brief time he stayed with me, before he had to report to his next base. I wasn't smiling, either. It wasn't a 'fun' time, for me. He seemed set, in his decision, to LEAVE ME behind, probably then FOR GOOD. I couldn't fault him, for not feeling something he didn't seem to feel for me, now; if in fact he had ever really loved me. I was still just SICK about it, though, because I was left to wonder if MAYBE he DID love me, in his own heart; perhaps buried underneath the layers of others' opinions about our relationship, which he seemed to let be THE DECIDING FACTOR, about us being together. Rather than be supportive of me, he always seemed to turn on me, in those cases. He very clearly conveyed to me that the opinions of outsiders, and onlookers, and others, was far more important to him, in his life, than what the two of us had together, which was exactly the opposite of how I felt about all that. HE mattered to me; far more than ALL of those people, put together! I came to feel that I mattered LEAST to him, of anyone, in his life.

I was so sad, as I lay on the floor next to Jim, knowing that in the morning he would be gone, to drive to his next base. WITHOUT ME! It felt like my stomach was in KNOTS. I was feeling so emotional, and was so deeply upset by his leaving my life, that on the last morning that he was there, with me, I woke up, looked over at him, and wanted to cry, but I hurried to the bathroom instead, feeling so stressed out that I felt like I was actually going to throw up! At the time, I just thought that I felt this queasy from my extreme grief, which in itself was certainly deep enough to cause me to feel as I was then. I WAS SO UPSET! I was about to say GOOD-BYE, probably FOREVER, to the man that I LOVED more than ANY PERSON I HAD EVER LOVED---  in my entire life! THAT was ALOT for me to TRY to DEAL with. 

It was in NO way a romantic, or sexy, goodbye, between the two of us. I was crying. His jaw was set. It seemed to me that he must have already assured his father, and also his friends, that he wasn't moving forward with this relationship with me. It was what it was. That very last night I spent with him, there, in 1981, I felt EXACTLY like the lyrics to the following song, although it would not even be released until a decade later than that. When I first heard it, though, and every time since then, I always think back to how horrible I felt, at that time, knowing that Jim, if he had ever, truly, loved me, at all, had decided to let it--- to let me--- go. I wasn't sure if HE felt, HIMSELF, that I wasn't 'right' for him, or 'good enough' for him, or if he had simply let others decide FOR him, what he should feel, about me. All I WAS SURE ABOUT was that he was precious to me! This was the man that I deeply loved, with all that I was; none of which he apparently wanted, anymore . . . . 

I Can't Make You Love Me

Bonnie Raitt

Bonnie Raitt - I Can't Make You Love Me - YouTube

Turn down the lights, turn down the bed
Turn down these voices inside my head
Lay down with me, tell me no lies
Just hold me close, don't patronize
Cause I can't make you love me if you don't
You can't make your heart feel something it won't
Here in the dark, these final hours
I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power
But you won't
I'll close my eyes, then I won't see
The love you don't feel when you're holding me
Morning will come and I'll do what's right
Just give me till then to give up this fight
And I will give up this fight
Cause I can't make you love me if you don't
You can't make your heart feel something it won't
Here in the dark, these final hours
I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power
You won't, no you won't
No you won't, I can't make you love me, if you don't
If you don't, no, no, no
No, no cause I can't make you love me

After he left the area, I just tried to focus on my two new jobs. Some of Jim's friends, who were still around there, while talking with me soon after he had gone, just chastised me for what they saw as me making myself sick over it, since I was grieving so deeply. I was crying easily, and was extremely emotional, now. I felt that queasiness one feels, in their stomach, from extreme stress, almost all the time, anymore! My stomach felt hard, and tight, like it was in a permanent knot, now. One of the women scolded me, saying "There is no point BEING BITTER about it! Yes, you LOVE him, but he MADE his CHOICE, and HE'S GONE! You just have to accept that, now." But I just couldn't seem to get a grip on my emotions! Although I knew that I HAD to, and was doing my best, I was still literally just sick about it. I had to quit my morning restaurant job; just smelling the coffee sent me off to the ladies room feeling nauseated. 

At least I still had the dance instructor paid job training. That was the job that Jim had gotten me, using his nonstop charm on the people there; on my behalf, that time. They asked me if I had heard from him, or if I knew how it was going for him, but I hadn't, and I didn't; nor did I believe that I would, now, either. Clearly he had meant it, when he had said good-bye to me. One day, as I answered the wife, of the couple that owned the dance studio, about whether I had heard from Jim, since he left, I just started sobbing. She sat looking at me and said, "Are you PREGNANT? Whenever I acted like YOU are, now, I WAS PREGNANT!" I said, "NO! I'm NOT! At least, I THINK THAT I'M NOT!" and I cried even harder. All I knew was that I was a wreck, I cried all the time, I never felt well anymore, including feeling sick to my stomach almost all the time now. I had chalked all that up to the deep grief, and intense longing, I felt, for Jim; especially since he had assured me, when we had sex that time, on the living room floor, on the couch cushions that he had put down there, for us, that he had pulled out 'in time'. 

Now, this woman, that I worked for, told me that I needed to get checked for pregnancy, so I did, and the test came back 'positive'! I WAS PREGNANT! She must have told her husband, then, because he 'let me go' from my job, there at the dance studio, saying that any clumsy customer, learning how to dance, could easily trip me, causing me and/or the baby inside me to be hurt. I was now about 6 weeks pregnant, with NO job, of the TWO that I'd had there. Because I was queasy all the time, I was also vomiting frequently now, so I could not get, or hold down, ANY job, at this point. I was also ALL ALONE, except for the new human being growing inside of me now. I was going to have to tell Jim that we were having a baby! I didn't think that he would be any happier about it than I was. Still, he had to know. And I really needed some help with this situation! I really needed Jim's help, now.

I called my mother about it, first, sitting in my empty apartment on the floor because I still had no furniture. When I told her, her reaction, after her usual 'guilt trip' speech that I was "bringing shame on the family", was simply to tell me to get an abortion, and then she hung up on me. HER response was really not unexpected, by me [Reference my two Blog posts specifically about my mother].

But NOW, I needed to tell JIM, and I had no idea what HIS reaction to the news would be. I called him, at his next base he had gone to, just a few weeks before this. His initial reaction was disappointing to me, and painful. He just acted annoyed by my call to him, about this, and told me, flat out, that he questioned if the baby was even his. OUCH! Then, he ALSO told me to get an abortion, and HE hung up on me. >sigh!< 

I sat there, on the floor, after those two phone calls I had made, looking down at my stomach, and I said to the little life there inside me, "I don't know what we're going to do, but I believe that you are SUPPOSED TO BE here, and that this happening is God's Will; and I will do whatever it takes to help you be born!" I can't recall now whether I called Jim, again, or he called me back, later, but we talked more, about it, because I told him how I had just lost both of my jobs, and that my extreme Morning Sickness (which actually lasted ALL DAY, for me, for several months of my pregnancy), was making it difficult, if not impossible, to work, now. I also told him that I would NOT abort this baby. 

Since I was rendered unable to hold down a job, due to the effects of this pregnancy on me, I asked him if he would allow me to come there, where he was, so I would at least have his help with the needed medical care to birth this baby, since he had a job. I assured him that I wouldn't ask anything else of him, then, because I should be able to work again, after that, and I would take the baby then, and go my own way. There was not any talk of marriage, between us, at that time. Because of my believing he didn't love me, anymore, if he EVER had, hurting me, and how he had reacted to his baby, growing within me, now, I didn't WANT to marry him.

Even though I loved Jim, his behaviors were really starting to turn me off toward him, now. I think it is fair to say that we were BOTH disenchanted with one another, at this point. I was really starting to question, now, what I had ever seen in him! While he showed MOST people ONLY his CHARMING side which, I knew from my own firsthand experience with that part of him, was indeed completely convincing, captivating, and compelling, as well as good at getting him what he wanted from others, in his relationships, I had seen the FLIP SIDE of that, TOO, though, which was NOT NEARLY AS IMPRESSIVE, regarding who, and what, 'else' he truly was, underneath it all. 

He may have, originally at least, been my 'Prince Charming', when we had first met at Keesler, but who this man was turning out to be, underneath all that, was not someone who was going to EVER be MY HERO, or even my BEST FRIEND! He had already rejected me, leaving me behind in Mississippi, as if I had just been some disposable 'thing' that he had used up, and tossed aside afterward. He also hadn't kept in touch, at all, AGAIN. So, since someone's 'actions speak louder than words', I KNEW that he really wasn't interested in marrying me. Since I was beginning to REALLY QUESTION what I had even EVER REALLY SEEN IN HIM, the 'SPELL' he had seemed to put on me, in the beginning, using his irresistible charm, was dissipating, now. I was seeing past the facade, to see him more for who he truly seemed to be, on the inside, which was a shock to me, at first, and then, a real let down. 

Underneath that 'shiny' veneer, of his, was no one that I would be proud of belonging to, or being with, based on the vast differences between what each of our default value systems seemed to be. He cared about what the WORLD thought of him; and, as an extension of him, OF ME, as well. I cared about what I thought of me, and of him; and my CORE values were Christian ones. He thrived on, and even fed off of, his socializing with lots of people, and being out and about! I cared about having quality, over quantity, in my relationships, and a happy home life. 

Right now, I just had to be practical, though, and hope for the best. I was pregnant, with a child on the way! HIS child. And I needed some HELP from him, to get through this pregnancy, anyway. He agreed that I could come there, to stay with him for now, where his orders had sent him after his Tech School at Keesler had finally ended. I had discovered what base that was, after I arrived back in Biloxi as a civilian, following my Discharge from the Air Force. As it turned out, Jim had also gotten orders to report to Offutt! This was the VERY SAME BASE that I was just Discharged from, only a few months before; and, that I now also had the Letter of Barment from. That wasn't an issue, to me, though, as I was moving back to the Omaha area, now, due to the pregnancy. Since I wasn't going back there intending to marry Jim, I wouldn't have any right or reason to access the base. I had no illusions left, about him loving me enough to want to marry me. I just needed help to get this baby born. HIS baby.

As I arrived back in Omaha, remembering what God had previously spoken prophetically to me as I was praying in Capehart Chapel, while I was still there at Offutt as an enlisted airman [Reference my post on my Air Force career, dated 07/10/2019], I watched to see what would unfold between Jim and I, now. Because I was forbidden, due to the Letter of Barment, to go onto Offutt Air Force Base for any reason, Jim asked a chaplain from the base, whom he had apparently been speaking with regarding our situation, to come meet with the two of us, at his small, furnished, studio apartment in Bellevue, just after I arrived. 

It was rather surreal, for me. This chaplain literally sang some strange-sounding song, OVER ME, while I sat nervously on Jim's couch, as he did so, wondering what that was about! Also, both he and Jim seemed to be trying to convince me that I should marry Jim, now, but THAT WASN'T the agreement Jim had reached with me, when we had very recently spoken on the phone about my coming here, to help the baby be born!?! This was a complete 180, on Jim's part, causing me to wonder now, distrustfully, what exactly had caused this SEEMING SHIFT in his thinking about it. Perhaps this was really just the chaplain's opinion, as a 'man of God', with Jim just going along with it, at least while the chaplain was there with the two of us. 

As strange as it sounds, since I loved Jim with all my heart, I DID NOT WANT TO MARRY HIM, now, under these circumstances. I didn't want to marry him THIS way--- because of a BABY--- because I was convinced that he didn't want ME; and no one wants to be married to someone that doesn't really love or want them. At least, I didn't! I had not expected this 'change of heart' (or WHATEVER THIS WAS!) from Jim, and I wasn't sure AT ALL that it was even a GOOD idea, given the situation. He had just LEFT ME BEHIND, in Biloxi, which had convinced me that he knew what he was doing, and what he wanted, and that it DIDN'T INCLUDE ME!

Now, I was wondering if this change in plans was perhaps only due to his wanting to have the military health coverage, CHAMPUS, to pay for all the expenses involved in the pregnancy and delivery, especially since things CAN go WRONG, at times, with having a baby, which would then cause the total cost involved to escalate higher still. Without that Military Dependent health coverage, all of it would likely have to come directly out of his paycheck. Or, I wondered it he felt something for the baby, who (at THAT time) would now be the ONLY blood relative that Jim had EVER KNOWN, in his life, because he had been adopted as a baby, himself, and was an only child to that couple. (Factually, though, Jim and I were ALSO about to become RELATED BY BLOOD, because of this baby of ours, together, making us actual relatives of one another, then, for the rest of our lives, despite being divorced, not very long after the baby was born. While this man didn't seem destined to be my husband, from God's prophetic Word to me about Omaha, he WAS still about to be RELATED TO ME!)

After the chaplain's input, and knowing that I needed the medical coverage, I agreed to marry Jim, even though I was actually feeling very reluctant about it. He maintained that it wasn't just because of the chaplain, but because he thought it was the better way to go, with this situation. I wondered if he just didn't want his child to be born as a 'bastard', by not having his last name. I wondered if this 'change of heart', in him, was due to concerns he may have had that, being at his first permanent duty station, now, his Chain of Command might have disapproved of his being any less responsible toward his actions, than this, and he didn't want to get into trouble, or lose face, somehow. I even wondered, since the opinions of outsiders had always meant more to him than anything that I thought or felt, if he simply didn't want to be seen as just some jerk, by his having a woman, whom he had impregnated, on his hands which he wasn't going to 'do right by', socially speaking. I wondered ALOT of things. >sigh!< 

I didn't ever know WHAT had motivated him to change his mind. I only knew we had agreed, before I came there, that we would NOT marry, because of this, but that he WOULD just help me to HAVE THE BABY, and then I would try to figure it out on my own, going forward from there. I definitely didn't feel LOVED by him, though. My illusions about that, with him, were all gone by this time, because ACTIONS DO SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS. 

He wasn't aware of what God had told me, in the base chapel, as far as I recall, now. That had simply seemed like it was 'CRAZY' IMPOSSIBLE, to me, at the time God had spoken in my spirit, so clearly, that very SHOCKING STATEMENT, that 'I would be married in Omaha, Nebraska!' I don't think that I told Jim about it, because I wanted to SEE if this situation, with HIM, was God's Will, for me, or not; so, I didn't want to interfere with the course of events, as they played out. I felt that the ONLY HOPE that this could all turn out to be the right thing, and a blessing, for us, was if it was what God Willed for us. God had told me what CITY I would marry in, but what MAN was NEVER made clear to me; TO THIS DAY. However, God Himself became my Husband (Isaiah 54:5)!

Because Jim chose the courthouse in PAPILLION for our wedding, I wondered, even while we were saying our vows to one another, there, whether that could even count, as fulfilling that Word from God that He had given me while I was still enlisted at Offutt. Since, following my Discharge, I had left Nebraska, for good, it had certainly seemed to me, and returned to North Carolina, before moving to Mississippi, this development was still startling, though, in itself! I HAD NO IDEA, when that had occurred in the chapel, that day, as I sat alone, praying in the sanctuary there, asking God what my future would be, now, that JIM would ALSO get orders for THAT SAME BASE, out of ALL the bases around the WORLD! Or, that I would become PREGNANT, of all things, in spite of my never wanting to, and, as a result of that, actually end up back in the Omaha metro area, MARRYING JIM, due to these things! 

The Bible says that "God's Ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9). It also says "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are Called according to His Purpose" (Romans 8:28). I NEVER would have believed that ANY of these things, which WERE HAPPENING NOW, with Jim and I, EVER COULD HAVE! Because of knowing him as well as I did, though, I was still afraid to get my hopes up, about either his feelings for me or our future together, even after I reluctantly agreed to go ahead and marry him. 

I'd even been wondering how he had told his parents about marrying me, and the news of the baby on the way, since their opinion mattered much more to him that I ever did. I figured that he must have handled it some way, with them, by the time I arrived, although he had never spoken of his doing that, with me. At the time, I just thought that was likely because their reaction to this news wouldn't have been very good, and he knew that there was nothing I could do to change it, until after the baby was born, and I would take it and go on my way, out of their lives. 

Even having married me, Jim wasn't saying or doing anything that really gave me any reason to think that he loved me or that he wanted our 'marriage of convenience', because of the baby, to turn into a lasting relationship, or a lifelong bond, between us. He did have sex with me after I arrived; but he never avoided that opportunity! Nor did I, with him! However, it wasn't much fun for me anymore, now, as I didn't feel very well, much of the time, my changing hormones made me feel very emotional, and I wasn't feeling 'sexy' anymore, now that my body was hosting this other person, within me, which I had to be careful of. 

This was no longer MY vagina, Jim was inside of; it was now the baby's BIRTH CANAL. My body felt hijacked, and my thoughts shifted from being a girlfriend and lover to being an unwanted wife and mother-to-be. None of these changes were conducive to us having the hot sex that we had always enjoyed together, before all this had happened. It simply wasn't the same, now! BABY makes THREE.

After our simple courthouse wedding, we went to a restaurant, with a themed atmosphere, for dinner, but I was so nauseous that I was unable to eat it, and had to ask the wait staff to put my chicken dinner in a 'To Go' container. Even then, just the smell of it, in the car, caused me to be on the verge of vomiting again, with me trying to hold it in, as we drove back from there to the tiny, one-room, apartment, of Jim's, which was quite a distance from there. 

ADDING to THESE wedding day memories, the car broke down, as well, as we headed home on the highway, and we just sat there, in it, on the side of the road, in the dark of night, wondering what to do. There were no cell phones back then. When an officer on patrol saw us, from the opposite side of the highway, and hand signaled to us 'Did we need help?', Jim used a hand gesture that indicated, 'No, just go on your way', which I couldn't understand him doing, since we were stranded, and I was trying my best not to throw up! I was feeling AWFUL, from this 'Morning Sickness' actually being more of an ALL-DAY-LONG Sickness. The patrol officer came upon us, again, but now on our side of the road, this time. Seeing that we were still sitting there, he stopped to help us. Eventually, we got the needed part to fix the engine, but it was a very unpleasant wedding day, for me, and very likely was for Jim, as well. 

IT CERTAINLY DIDN'T SEEM TO ME to be 'THE PERFECT WILL OF GOD', for MY MARRYING IN OMAHA, as GOD HAD PROPHESIED, to me. THIS didn't seem to be anything that could fulfill THAT, at all! I am describing all this to say that there was NOTHING sweet, loving, romantic, or enjoyable about our wedding day. It was actually a pretty miserable experience, for me, and I think for Jim, as well. This gave me even MORE doubt that OUR marriage was the one that was to fulfill God's Prophetic Word to me. I suppose it COULD be argued that ALL OF THIS was ACTUALLY just AN ATTACK OF SATAN, whom the Bible teaches us "comes only to steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10). IT DIDN'T seem to BE BLESSED, though. First this relationship, and now this marriage, between Jim and I. Everything about it either looked or felt WRONG, somehow. Could ANYTHING go RIGHT?

Besides all that, I had never been pregnant before, which caused me to feel alot of stress! I was having to deal with a huge amount of changes in my body, now, most of which were very uncomfortable and unpleasant. It was NOT a HAPPY, FUN time, in my life. Jim and I BOTH seemed caught up in how we were each feeling, about the situation we found ourselves in, for the most part, rather than our being either willing or able to truly be there for one another. He would come home for lunch, from the base, sometimes. I was never really sure WHY. I was always glad to SEE him, because I LOVED HIM, but I was convinced that he didn't WANT me, at all; even to come home to SEE me! 

One day, the phone rang near lunch time, and I thought he might be calling me. He had lived there alone, until I came there, and this call was coming in during the middle of his workday. So, I answered it, but it wasn't Jim calling me. It was his mother, who never met me, although I am sure her husband filled her in on his dislike of me, after being around me during his two visits to Jim back in Biloxi, when he usually wasn't very nice to me. At first, she was simply startled into silence, clearly not expecting to hear MY voice answer Jim's phone. Slowly it dawned on her who this must be, since I spoke with a Southern accent, and this was Nebraska, where Jim was, now. Then, she started screaming at me over the phone, "NO! YOU LEAVE OUR SON ALONE!" 

Startled myself, that she wasn't Jim calling, and horrified by her reaction to me there, I think that I managed to explain why I was there, and couldn't comply with her comment, by saying, "I am pregnant", before I hung up on her, in my fear and panic. So, Jim had apparently NOT told them, about any of this, with me, and it fell on me to do! When he got home, I let him know that she had called, and what had happened. He didn't say a word, but his face showed that he knew this wasn't good. The WHOLE situation. I wasn't feeling positive toward any of this, myself. It was NOT a HAPPY time, for ME, either!

There is good and bad to everything, in life, it seems; light and dark; yin and yang.  Absolute perfection and everlasting bliss are not possible, on this planet. So, that being said, there was a troubling side to Jim's behaviors, once we were married; new things, with that, which I had never seen in him, before; some of which were even frightening to me, at times. Starting at the studio apartment, shortly after we wed, he broke the coffee table, 'acting out', from some of his frustration with the situation! I had NEVER seen him be destructive toward property, before OR after, that incident. He was amiable and mild-mannered, in his personality, most of the time. 

After an argument between us, he left the apartment, for awhile, and when he returned later he looked disheveled. When I asked him about that, he told me that he had gone to sit in a nearby bar, and that a bouncer or someone had forcibly removed him from the premises when he wasn't purchasing anything from that establishment. He described to me his having a very irrational conversation with this person, prior to being ejected, which Jim was NEVER known for doing, with him contentiously challenging the employee's opinion that if he weren't a paying customer, he had to leave. I was very concerned about this; that he had gone somewhere and seemed to pick a fight with a stranger, like that! This wasn't like him AT ALL! This sent a scary signal to me, that Jim was in some kind of emotional free fall, now, from all the stress of the situation we were in, with the 'shotgun wedding' from the baby on the way. I was also having a lot of difficulty dealing with all this, for my own reasons, which I am describing throughout this post, as well as in previous posts that are either about, or touch on, this relationship with him. 

One day, a young woman came to the studio apartment, not long after Jim and I were married, and said she was selling something like insurance, or some such thing. Jim basically just sat and watched me interact with her, not really saying anything. As she began to be there for a lengthy amount of time, and I didn't see any point to our continuing on with this conversation, besides the fact that I was not feeling very well, I finally took matters into my own hands and asked her to leave, AND SHE REFUSED! She kept looking sideways at Jim, and he wasn't saying anything, AND she kept REFUSING to LEAVE, what was NOW also MY home, when I KEPT telling her to DO SO. 

It was SO STRANGE, for an actual 'salesperson' to act that way, especially since she stopped trying to 'sell' anything, after I started, repeatedly, telling her to leave now, YET SHE WOULDN'T LEAVE!?! Because of this, I began to think that she might actually be a woman that somehow knew, or was involved with, Jim, in some way, since he wasn't backing me up on having her GO, at all, and they kept exchanging glances with one another. I felt VERY UNEASY when these strange things started happening; unsure of what they meant OR where I stood with Jim, in this marriage, which we had gone through with due to HIS (and the chaplain's) convictions that it was the RIGHT THING to do. I felt scared now.

Seeing someone as emotionally stable as Jim had originally seemed to me to be, starting to exhibit some new, and disconcerting, behaviors was suddenly sending me signals that I didn't even know how to understand, from him, or process. He rarely communicated with me directly, anymore, about whatever he was feeling. This is one of the reasons that I am an advocate of open honesty, including with myself; painful or not. As I have said, before, our emotions DO AFFECT OUR LIVES in ALOT of ways, including some which we may not even be aware of, ourselves, while that is happening! Emotions that are 'stuffed' down within us, for any reason, for any amount of time, produce a pressure, on us, to be expressed, dealt with, and integrated into the situation(s) at hand. You can be SURE that these feelings WILL MAKE THEMSELVES KNOWN, one way or the other, if they are held inside you, and unexpressed, for any amount of time. Communicating, clearly, who you are, and what you are feeling, is a VERY IMPORTANT thing in relationships with others. Otherwise, we just aren't being true to who we are, we are living a lie to some extent, and our needs cannot be met, as well, if at all. 

It is not fair to others, or reasonable of us, if we expect them to just guess, somehow 'read our mind', or to remain in an ongoing personal relationship, with us, if we aren't communicating clearly with them about who we are and what we need from the relationship between us. Whenever there begins to be a communication breakdown, or just the absence of it, for any reason, it leads to unnecessary stress, lingering resentment, deep distrust, and even 'acting out' behaviors can begin to occur, undermining the health and happiness of this relationship, and those involved in it. It will even destroy it altogether, from the emotional stranglehold this puts on the people involved. Without communication, there really cannot be relationship. I needed Jim to SPEAK OUT; not ACT OUT!