So I received a letter today, that made me very happy.
I must supply some background info first....
My Mother, Also known as "The Crazy One", was married THREE times, yes I said THREE. First to my father, they divorced when I was 2 years old. Second to a nut job/ lunatic, that I refuse to waste my time discussing in any further detail. And Third to a man that was more like a sibling competing for mommies attention.
So while STILL married to husband #3, she began an affair with our next door neighbor's brother.
The next door neighbor's were a lovely couple with three children, a girl my age and two younger boys. The brother was often over visiting.
Husband #3 is none-the-wiser, because he works the midnight shift, and has no clue.
Skip ahead a few months... Mommy Dearest decides to leave Husband #3 and move in with the next door neighbor's brother.(This doesn't bother me, because I really like this wonderful man).
So one day, while #3 is at work, she moves everything out, I do mean everything, (all she left him was his bed and a television).
Even though I didn't get along with him, I've always felt sorry for him. No one deserves that.
2 Years later.... all is well. I have grown very attached to the new man. His name is Gary. He is the most positive male influence I've had up until this point. My father is great now, but at the time, Mother would not let me seem for her own vengeful reasons. So this is the first real father figure I've had, and I have grown to really love him.
Of course things are going to well. She can't live without some sort of turmoil so out of the blue she decides we are moving to California, without him.
I'm to young to even grasp what is really going on, so I just think we are moving. I didn't realize he wasn't going to be with us anymore.
You won't believe this.. being the wonderful guy that he is, he helps us move and even drives us out there!!
So the day he is leaving to return to Michigan, my mother says,"Say goodbye to Gary", not knowing that I'm never going to see him again, I say "Goodbye", ....and then he was gone.
It still haunts me to this day. If I had only known that he was never coming back, I would have held on and never let go. I would have told him how much I loved him and what he meant to me.I never got that chance.
There is not a week that goes by that I don't think about him. I've always pictured him getting back to that house and being alone. I've always feared that he would think that I didn't care that he left. I still keep his picture on my desk, 25 years later.
A few months ago, I took Jake out to a place I use to go to when I was young, kind of a little farm were you can feed the ducks. There is a river winding around a small antique/general store. It was closed down now unfortunately. So I decided to drive by the old house. To my surprise, I could have sworn that the neighbor's still lived there.
A week went by and curiosity got the best of me, so I called information to see if they still lived there, and they do!!
A few months later I was in the area and decided to drop off a note with some recent pictures of Jake and I.
Weeks went by with no response, so I had given up.
Then today when Jake and I got home from the park, there it was.... A nice big thick envelope.
It was so great. She said such wonderful things. She sent pictures of everyone, all the kid's, grandkid's, and best of all pictures of Gary. It was so good to see his face.
She said he has been married to a wonderful woman for the past 10 years, and they are very happy.
She said that she read my letter to him and he was so happy to hear from me.
This has been an open wound for me for so long. I never had any kind of closure. Her letter felt very healing.
It was very warm and full of all the things I've wanted to hear for so long.
I'm just so glad that he is loved. He deserves nothing less.
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