Nineteen To Two For Forever

My first ride on the Himalaya ride at the county fair lasted roughly nineteen years.

I can still hear the distorted voice coming from the speaker shouting, "Do ya wanna go faster?" ... "I CAN'T HEAR YOU.... DO YA WANNA GO FASTER?"..... I can hear it over and over again...
The ride would get faster, and faster... my grip getting tighter on the bar, oh, let's call it 'reality', as I slid farther and farther away from the edge of where I started the ride.

Then, the ride would slow down..... mercifully. I would shimmy back to where I was sitting when I started the ride and all was well. And then... it happened.

The damned Himalaya ride stopped completely and with a gentle jolt, began a backwards motion.

Slowly, at first, then faster. And then, the distorted voice, screaming, "Do ya wanna go faster?".... "DO YA WANNA GO FASTER?" ... Now the voice was accompanied by a siren....

And this went on for nineteen years.

This was my first marriage. No, this was my first marriage on steroids with a bipolar mind.


I'm now two days away from the two-year anniversary of my marriage to my soulmate, my second wife, Pamela, Pam, muh bebe. And, there are no sirens, no Himalaya rides.
And although we had our rollercoaster rides early in our relationship, the majority of those rides have been dismantled. What remains may be a 'Scooby Doo' kiddy coaster or a 'Small World' Disney cruise on a hot day.

We do not have the perfect marriage. How could we? She married me. But we have each other. I have loved her from the very moment I first saw her. And, despite what many think, I've loved her in lives past. She is my joy.

It took nineteen years to realize what I needed in my life and who I needed in my life to make those things happen. She would say the same. What is funny, in a strange way, is that my ex-wife would say the same for herself. I'm happy for her, despite all of our past cutthroat jibes and hate-filled diatribe.

Two years. I never thought I'd marry again. I never thought I'd live this long, to be honest, given my propensity for dumbass decisions. But, I've changed myself and my decision-making based upon my love for and promises made to this one woman. I'm almost.. *gulp* domesticated.

Or maybe I'm just older. Or wiser. Hell, I'm forty-nine in age now and almost twenty-six mentally. I'm growing up. Soon, I'll buy shoes with laces and start going to church.

Nah.