Two Decades

She was my life. Basically, together, in one way or another, since 2nd/3rd grade. We moved all over the country before finding ourselves right back where we started.

Fate had our relationship sealed in stone.

She came back from Florida after an unsuccessful attempt at marriage, I came back from Northern Cal after my brother passed away.

I "met" her at the first job I got upon return. Even then, she was the one person in the company that made me really feel welcome. We became best friends but really never discussed our past.

Approx 2-3 years later, we moved in together. It wasn't until my Mom knocked on the door and she asked "Hi Nettie! Why are you here? My parents don't live here."... my Mom says "Hi Terri, no, I'm here to see my Son!"... It turns out my Mom had been trying to get us to meet for several years.

My parents were old friends of her parents. We literally lived one block away from each other at one time. The list of coincidences grew like a snowball. My school friends were her brothers' school friends, our social security numbers are only 739 numbers different from each other. The list goes on and on and on. It was clearly "meant to be".

The day we moved in together, we started a joint checking account and all money we got, regardless of the source, went into one pile. There was never any doubt "who's" money it was. It was "ours".... Period.

I've been so incredibly spoiled.

Once in a while, I'd call her in to wash my back... the next thing I'd know, she'd be in the shower with me and scrubbing me from head to toe like I was "her baby". I loved every minute of it (nothing sexual involved... just pure love) She'd always say "You men.... you're so darned helpless, you don't even know how to bathe yourselves".

She had an amazing sense of humor too <g> Once she called me at work and said "Hi Poppa.. I was thinking of you just now... but then I flushed the toilet ;-)" That cracked me up! I'm a 'Married with Children' fan and that sounds like something straight from the show. I laughed for about ten minutes and reused her joke several times.