Unanswered Prayers

Kelly and I started dating the day we met, some may say we moved a bit fast, but you have to remember when you date someone that lives 1,200 miles away, and you only get to see each other a few times a year, you have to make every second count, and we did.  We spent every second together we could, we were in love, at least I was.

I was pretty smitten.  I didn’t know why I liked Kelly so much, she had a great personality, she was smart, very pretty, but I think it was more of the fact that she was also albino.  Again we get back to the fact that she was one of my own ‘kind’.

When school let out for the summer Kelly came to visit me in Tennessee, she came down to Johnson City where we lived.  We had a wonderful time. I even took her to our family reunion up in Kentucky to meet the family as it were.  It was a very fun outing.

Something else happened when Kelly came to visit.  This is something that I don’t want to get too detailed about but needless to say we had a very serious relationship. That’s all the detail I will give.  You can use your imagination for the rest.

When school started back the next year I joined all the teams again so that we could be together as much as possible. We wrote each other a lot, I listened to sappy love songs about being alone, and lonely, you know the stuff that make you want to puke when you hear them on the radio.

We spent a lot of time together, well at least on the phone we did.  And this was back before unlimited long distance cell phone plans, or Vonage came along.  When sport events came along that would put us together, we cherished the time we had.  One of the events of my junior year I was really looking forward to was the Swimming/Forensics Confrence in Faribault Minnesota.  I knew I would get to spend a lot of time with Kelly and Jill who had become a good friend of mine.

The Tennessee team took a bus to Minnesota leaving at 4:45 AM on Thursday to be there by 4:00 PM Friday.  We stopped off in Illinois to spend the night at the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired.  All my friends and I had a blast aggravating the coaches.

The next day we got up at 7:00 AM and after breakfasting we hit the road on our way to Faribault MN.  We arrived in Minnesota around 3:30 PM.  That night there would be a school dance; this was a normal occurrence at these NC events.  It was a way for the schools to interact in a social situation and not just try to kick each other’s tails in a sporting environment.

At the dance Kelly introduced me to some of her other friends. Which I had pretty much already met through other events.  But some I hadn’t.  I spent time with Kelly and Jill who by this time had stopped dating JP.  Jill spent most of the time with Kelly and I as she didn’t have a boyfriend. I had no problem with this, because I like Jill she was funny, very smart, and knew how to have a good time. So hanging out with her didn’t bother me at all. I had no idea I was planting a seed that would soon grow beyond anyone’s expectations.

The next day competition started for Forensics.  I found out that Jill & Kelly would be competing against me & Danielle my Dramatic Duo partner.  Jill & Kelly would be doing a very controversial play called “The Children’s Hour”. A piece about two teachers who have a lesbian relationship.  Danielle and I did the more wholesome Tennessee Williams play “The Glass Menagerie”.  Danielle and I won 1st place gold medals.  Jill & Kelly didn’t place, not because they weren’t any good, but because the judges were bigots and fools.  Kelly and Jill deserved at least 2nd place, but they definately weren’t good enough for first place, at least not in my humble opinion.

Our relationship continued to grow and so did my friendship with Jill.  We talked on the phone on three-way calls, and started to really build a meaningful relationship.

Kelly was going to come to Tennessee again for my junior prom.  I got a limo, another tuxedo, this time traditional black.  Kelly stayed at Judy’s house.  The day of prom Judy took Kelly out to get her hair done, and all dolled up for the prom that night.  We had the prom at school this year, in the gym to be exact.  James Cameron’s “Titanic” was incredibly popular at that time so our prom was based on the movie.  It was actually really well done. Kelly and I had a great time dancing, talking with friends, riding in the limo, all the stuff kids should do at their prom.

The weekend after prom we went to Kentucky Kingdom with the Donellson Church of the Nazerene.  We had a blast, we rode so many rides I thought I was going to be sick.  We went to the Hard Rock Café for dinner, and went to the Opry Land Hotel Conservatory, took a boat ride, a carriage ride, we had a blast that weekend.

Then summer came, and Kelly came to visit again. This was almost an exact copy of the previous summer.  Family renunion, spending time together, dancing in the dark, all that good stuff that kids do when they’re in love.  Too bad it wouldn’t last.

Around the beginning of the 1999 – 2000 school year Kelly told me she was going to leave MSAB and go to public school again.  This meant we wouldn’t see each other at sporting events anymore.  I had my doubts at this point whether or not this relationship was going to be able to survive the distance. Not only because she was returning to public school, but there were other troubles as well. Turns out I was right.

In October I received a disturbing call from Kelly. I had known for a little while that she had starting drinking and doing social drugs. Kelly is also a bit of a flirt. The story she told me was that she was raped by some guy at a party she went to with some friends from work. At that time, and still today I don’t honestly know if this is true. However, at this stage it doesn’t really matter. Events most likely unfolded much differently. Knowing Kelly the way I do I am certain she went to a party, got drunk, probably smoked a joint or popped a pill and forgot how to restrain her baser urges. Whether this led to a voluntary coupling on her part or not only she and God knows, and neither one is telling. I knew the end was in sight.  I just didn’t know if it would be Kelly or me that would swing the axe.

I didn’t know what was going to happen when I went to Minnesota for Christmas break.  But I knew it would be something interesting.  Especially considering the fact that I would be visiting Jill in Minneapolis at her apartment before heading to Rochester to spend the holiday with Kelly and her family.  Kelly’s Christmas break didn’t start until a couple days after I arrived, so it just worked about better for me to stay with Jill for a couple days.

Jill graduated in 1998, and we had kept in contact via phone, email, and other methods.  We were building a very close friendship, and I knew that Jill was lonely.  I didn’t realize how lonely until I got to Minnesota the Christmas of 1999. I had a great time with Jill probably a better time then I should have.  Again I’ll leave things to your imagination but it shouldn’t be too difficult to figure things out.

The trip to Minnesota was a way for me to close my relationship with Kelly.  I didn’t want to break up over the phone, by email, or with a letter.  I felt it was necessary to do this in person.  Problem was I loved her, I still kind of do, but I am glad I got away from that relationship.  She turned out to have a few screws loose.  She is now sitting in a prison in Illinois.  That’s her mug shot by the way.  I didn’t want to break up with her.  So I did a lot of things to try to get her to break up with me.  I finally succeeded after I graduated.  She dumped me via email.  But at least it was done, and I could move on right to her best friend, who just so happened to be my new roommate. Stay tuned in a later chapter for more on this interesting development.

1. A Small History Lesson	2. Congratulations It’s A Freak
3. The First Five Years	4. It All Goes Up In Flames
5. School Daze	6. Say What?
7. A New Hope	8. Becoming A Sophisticated Redneck
9. A New Beginning – Literally	10. Back Into the Fray
11. They Like Me, They Really Like Me	12. 10011001
13. Let the Music Heal Your Soul	14. Taking My Sister to the Prom
15. My First Love, My First Broken Heart	16. From Zero to Hero
17. Livin’ On a Prayer	18. Moving On
19. Going Full Circle	20. The Rockford Files
21. Faith of the Heart	22. Partner, Friend, Lover, Wife
23. Turns Out She Was Right	24. A One-Legged Bear
25. Another Victim of the Game	26. Payin’ Bills with my Skills
27. A New Revell-ation	28. A New Page, A New Day
29. R We There Yet?