continued from 12/6...
Five years of marital bliss. Oblivion, I call it now. Richard, my husband, was a realtor. People... men and women called our house all hours of day and night. This was before email...before computers...before cell phones. I was used to it. I took messages and relayed them when I could track him down.
One Saturday morning, he left for the gym and said he'd be back in an hour. The night before, I remember making his favorite dinner, lamb chops and later, we talked about starting a family. I'd already started furnishing the nursery and had accumulated a bassinet and and other odds and ends that I could envision in his or her room.
Not long after he left, I got a phone call from a woman and I thought she said she wanted to speak to Richard. I was looking for a pen when I said "He isn't in but could I take a message". "No", she said "she didn't want to speak to him but about him". I paused and said "Is he alright"? I thought that maybe she was calling from the gym and something had happened. "He's fine" she said, "I just wanted you to know that I just spoke to him at the gym and are an epileptic". "What?" I said, "Who is this". "Well are you?" she said. "Of course not, who is this?" I asked again.
She continued by saying that she wanted me to know what a liar I was married to. You see, according to the caller, he was supposed to tell me he was leaving me the night before but he couldn't because I had had a seizure and well, it wasn't appropriate. The affair had been going on for 16 months. I filed for divorce on Monday.
It wasn't an easy time for me and I can't remember exactly how many months had lapsed but I knew that staying in Laguna Beach was just too painful. There were too many memories and I still wasn't clear on what was real and what wasn't.
I had skiied once and spent most of the time on my backside. It did have some appeal for me, though. The skiing part not the backside. I packed up my dog and my car, drove to Mammoth Lakes Ski Resort, rented a cabin and was determined to learn to ski. Some people called it running away from reality. I called it reinventing my life and new scenery, new experiences, new focus, new beginnings and plenty of fresh air seemed to be the best place to start. Sad, hurt, devastated? Of course, but I expected that I was going to be too busy to stay there for very long.
My cabin didn't have a television so I bought a huge jigsaw puzzle and completed two of them during my stay. I studied for my real estate license. My goal was to ski off the black diamond or expert run before I left. At the end of four months, I did--not all of it vertically, but the goal was accomplished. I went back to Laguna with an attitude adjustment, an appointment to take the test for my California license and ready to face the world.
It seemed to be working for a few months--I put on a good face, got my license and got down to business. Interest rates were at 16 1/2% and owners in Newport Beach were getting seconds on their properties for 24% and I was still doing business. What did I know? While most in my office were crying "the sky is falling", this was the market I entered and it was normal to me. I was thriving. Well, I was until I ran into Richard and a very pregnant "friend". The same one who was concerned about my epilepsy.
"How far away could I go so I don't have to be anywhere near the blessed event?" I asked myself. I didn't want to know if it was a boy or a girl. I didn't want to hear who he or she looked like. I didn't want any details and I didn't want to be the "poor wife". Mammoth was way too close. I was watching a gorgeous sunset one evening and it reminded me of an Indian Summer. "India!" I thought. That seemed far away enough. Yes, I would go to India...
to be continued...
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