On October 2,1993 my friend Kristy invited me to her house to meet some guy who was visiting from California. He was a friend of Mingo's, who we had met on New Years eve 9 months earlier.
I was not in a good mood at this point in my life. I was a single Jewish 30 year old woman without a boyfriend.
I didn't want to be a chef for some guy, I wanted a boyfriend who was not a moron who I might want to marry at some point in time.You know, someone decent.
I reluctantly went to Kristy's house as promised. Sitting at her kitchen table was this really cute guy. I was absolutely pissed off at this point. Ya he was cute.......and married!!!!!
I am pretty old-fashioned about marriage vows. I didn't care if he was in the most miserable marriage in history. The guy had a wife! I'm not a risk taker to begin with so I wasn't going to pursue this....at all!
I walked over to the table and then walked away. I was just so angry at everyone. Why parade this cutie pie guy in front of me who is absolutely unavailable? Why? Why? Why?
I walked into the living room and chatted with some other friends. I was frantically popping cotton candy jellybeans into my mouth. I'm a stress eater so I was hoping the little bag of beans would get me through. I really needed a barrel of jellybeans!
I finally went back to the kitchen and uttered my first words to Rich. In my rudest and most pissy tone I demanded, "Can ya move?" He scooted over and I dragged a chair over and sat next to him. I probably rolled my eyes at him. Ya, I wasn't very nice, to say the least. Did I mention he was married???
My sister Kara, who has never hung out with me, happened to be at Kristy's house on this night. She is 12 years younger than me so we weren't "pals" at this point in our lives. She called me aside and nodded her head in Rich's direction. "Go for it," she instructed me. As Junie B. Jones would say, "I did a big huffy breath at that girl." "Kara, there is no way I am going to 'go for it'! He is married, 4 years younger than me and he lives in California! Ya, that's gonna happen!" I walked back to my chair. Was she kidding? I couldn't even get single guys so why would I even try for this guy? Why couldn't she just admit this situation was hopeless?
I ignored him as best as I could but he was funny. I always wanted to meet someone with a sense of humor.He was a cross between John Goodman,Billy Crystal and Robin Williams. Who could resist such a guy?
Rich's friend, Sal, was trying to help him impress me so he said that Rich could write a song about anything.Then Sal said, "Go ahead and give him any line and he can write a song about it. Go ahead!"
I took a pen and piece of paper and wrote, "If only life was as simple as cotton candy jellybeans." I smirked at Rich and challenged him, "Here ya go. Write a song!"
He said he would meet me back at Kristy's house after the baby shower Kristy and I were going to on the next day. I went home feeling queasy. I wanted to laugh and cry but mostly puke my guts out. That's love for ya! I felt like someone had thrown a cannon ball at my stomach and it was stuck there. I sighed during the whole shower. My heart felt heavy. Kristy finally spun around in her chair and said, "You're in love with him!" I didn't even try to deny it. What was the point? But what could I possibly do about it?
True to his word, Rich was at Kristy's house that afternoon. He handed me the song. I read it privately and I knew.I knew that he knew that we were in love with each other.
I clutched my stomach and then reached for Kristy. I staggered upstairs to her step-daughter's room. Everyone read it and shrieked, "Oh my G-d!! He's in love with you!" The song was basically about how Rich remembered me from past lives so when he saw me this time he knew me.
The beginning goes like this:
We met some years ago in another place and time
and forever through the ages
you've never left my mind.
Each place it has been different
no one person was the same
but I always knew, it was you
coming back again
If only life was as simple
as cotton candy jellybeans
then you would know
what I really mean
Cuz if life was as simple
as cotton candy jellybeans
you would know just what I'm saying
I've said it in your dreams.
Finally I got the courage to go downstairs and thank him for the song. I wanted him to sing it to me. We went upstairs and talked for an hour. Rich was too shy to sing the song but eventually he agreed to sing it to me. Everything is kind of a blur after that. We sat at the dining room table downstairs and we weren't touching but our arms were resting next to each other on the table. To this day everyone said they could see and feel the electricity between us.
We danced outside on the lawn at midnight to "Unforgettable". Rich said to me, "When I come back from California I am going to so make you fall in love with me." I said, "I already did."
We said goodbye the following evening.He headed home to his wife. He finally had the courage to divorce her. They hadn't been happy for the 2 years they had been married but no one was gutsy enough to do anything about it,until Rich and I met,that is.
Rich promised he would be back by Halloween and I wanted to believe him.I mustered up all my courage and looked into my heart and I hoped he would come home to me.Some of my mother's friends laughed and said,"Divorce his wife and move 3,000 miles away? Come on! They all say they're going to divorce their wife. They never do!" Then they'd shake their head at me and I would doubt myself. Could I really trust this guy? Could I trust myself to make the right choice?
Rich returned to me 26 days later and he had already filed for divorce.
We were married the following year. The inscription in my wedding band reads "cotton candy jellybeans" and Rich's reads "Unforgettable".
We both took a chance on love and it paid off for us. With the help of those cotton candy jellybeans we have been married for 10 years! It was the biggest risk of my life but I would do it all again in a heart beat.
1 comment:
That has to be one of the most romantic stories I've ever heard... *sigh*
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