My True Love

This is my story of David. The David that I was blessed to know for 11 years and to have the honor of being married to for 8.5.

I met David thru my long-time friend, Mary Ellen, who was also his neighbor. Mary Ellen was one of the first friends I made when I moved to Tampa in 1990. She wanted to set me up with him, but I was kind-of over the “blind date/setup” thing, so I politely declined. Then Mary Ellen’s daughter got married and both David and I attended the wedding. When he walked into the reception, I saw him and thought “WOW! Who is that handsome man?! He doesn’t have a date so maybe he’s single?” He ended up sitting right behind me. Which gave me the chance to get a better look and also to hear that wonderful voice of his. Finally, when the dancing began, I made a beeline for the dance floor, as did he! I found Mary Ellen and asked, “Who is that hot man?” Her reply…. “Hello! The guy I’ve been trying to set you up with!” We didn’t actually meet (or dance together, sadly) at the wedding because I had a date.

Skip ahead a few weeks, as my business travel was a little tricky to work-around. On October 4, Mary Ellen and David picked me up in his new Cadillac (“hmmm… that’s a nice car”) and we went to the Hyde Park Art Festival. That went well, so someone suggested a late lunch at The Bungalow. As we sat and chatted, David touched my hand under the table, and I got squiggly feeling. Later that night we had our second date – Octoberfest at The Beer Garden. They had a great band and of course, we hit the dance floor. He kept up with my every move and showed me a few himself. BAM! I was smitten and knew it. Just that quick.

On our third date I had David over for dinner and very adamantly proclaimed that I was NEVER getting married again! No matter how much I may fall in love. Marriage was obviously not meant for me, so I was going to be happy without it. (I had been in 2 painful marriages, and the last one left me a mess, so I wasn’t doing that again!)

The next weekend was my birthday. David planned a flight to Naples for lunch. I had never been in a small plane before and was a little anxious. I also didn’t realize that David would be the pilot. During the flight, I became very nauseous. As soon as we landed and got to the restaurant, I excused myself and “enjoyed” a little time in the restroom.  David asked how I was feeling, so I fessed up and told him that I was a bit sick. He was amazing! Got me ginger ale, kept holding my hand, talking me thru all the safety measures he takes before and during the flight …. The flight home was much better. He flew low and down the coastline so that I could see the water and focus on something other than my fright. When we got in his car to leave the airport, I sat back and thought “This man is kind, caring, handsome as hell, has a great and important job, is stable and can keep up with me on the dance floor. Oh, shit! I might fall in love with him!!” Only 1 week since meeting him. WHAT?!

The day after my birthday, October 13, was the anniversary of his first wife’s death. Ironically and tragically, also after a very brief cancer battle. They had been married 29 years. He told me all of this over the phone while driving to Bushnell to place flowers on her grave. Again, my heart was so joyful and proud of the man I was getting to know, and my brain was saying “whoa, girl, you know the rule! Don’t get carried away.”

I will skip ahead several months to a dark time when David and I broke up for a few months. I was very much in love with him by this time. He was in love with me, too, but couldn’t say the actual words “I love you”. He had been thru hell with Diane’s illness. He was also taken advantage of during his grief by a very evil woman who left him even more wounded. I did understand all this, but my heart was also breaking. Remember, I didn’t want marriage. I was okay with that. But, I did want love. The fact that he couldn’t say the words, was unacceptable to me.

Thru David’s sister’s (Wendy) health crisis, we came back together. He was very close to her and he needed me. So, I was there. And eventually, we became a couple again, and a bit later, he told me tearfully that he was sorry he hurt me, and that he DID love me and he was just so scared and wrecked himself that he couldn’t say the words out of fear for his own emotional protection.

David and I LOVED to travel, explore and seek out new experiences and adventure. Very early in our relationship, he started traveling with me on work trips whenever he could take vacation. Little did we know that after his retirement, that would become his job – my personal travel valet, as he called himself. We have truly traveled the world – from Alaska to Singapore and India, and so many states and countries in the middle. We were engaged in Ireland and spent 3 weeks in Europe for our honeymoon. We talked a lot about all of our trips and agreed that one of the most significant and emotional was our time spent in Normandy, France.

I am blessed beyond measure to have this man call me partner, best friend and wife for the too short time we had. He was all those to me, and so many more – my love, as I always called him. He renewed my faith in love and marriage. For me, specifically, I mean. My entire life I have been surrounded by great love and marriages (my parents, for one) so I knew what it should be and had not found it for myself until David.

I could go on and on about my love for David and all the fun adventures we had, but for now I will leave those for another time. My heart can only take so many memories of him at once.
I have included my first photo of David and I (October, 2009) and the very last (October 14, 2020).