a story that i will never forget...

this story that i am going to tell you goes back almost thirty years... i met my soulmate on the sidewalk outside my first apartment,on September 2nd,or 3rd,1986... i actually saw her first a couple days earlier in the manager's office,but that is not important... she was waiting for her sons to get off the school bus on their very first day of school... when i got home from college that day,she was sitting in her wheelchair,looking forlorn and sad right at the corner where i turned to walk to my apartment... i just asked her if i could help her,and i was not expecting to get an answer,but,i guess that she wanted to talk,and we talked for a few minutes,then i walked to my apartment... funny thing is that i was thirsty,a few hours later,and so i went to the 7-ELEVEN,across the street to get a Coke,and there she was,sitting there on the payphone,talking to her attorney,with five or six grocery bags around her... what i did next was a real surprise to her:i noticed that she was sitting in the sun,so i stood there for ninety minutes or so(in 102 degree heat),giving her some shade,as she finished her phone call,and even gave some money for her kids to get a Coke,as i stood there... funny thing is that i said very little to her except when her kids wanted the Cokes... silent as a mouse,then i helped carry the food to the apartment... we talked for hours,then we just talked for day on day,and it was just odd that i did not do anything,but talk to a beautiful woman about most anything... i fell in love with her over that time... in those thirteen and half years that we loved each other,i never raised my hand in anger to her... it does not mean that we did not have troubles,we did,but i knew that i loved her deep in my heart,and that she loved me just the same... she was the most beautiful woman that i have ever met,in more ways than the obvious physical attraction that we both had for one another... honestly,i would have taken a bullet for the lady,in a heartbeat... in fact,i really did save her life a few times,by doing what i had to do,but honestly,i do not mean doing the physical things for her... in 1992,i was working at Zion National Park,at Zion Lodge,when i received a message to call her,which i did most nights,but this was different,because she called the front desk of Zion Lodge,so when i walked by that day,the clerk gave me the message,so when i called her that night,she told me that i(she) had to move in a week,or she would be dead,because one of her sons got involved with a gang(the Crips or the Bloods,somehow),and the leader threatened her with a gun,telling her that she had to move within a week,and when you are threatened with a gun,you move... the last time that i saw the door of her apartment it was twisted on one henge attached to the door frame,so i stayed up all night to protect her,and we moved to Orange County... that was the story that she gave her over that phone,that night... i hitchhiked to Orange County from St. George,Utah,over a span of six days to meet her at a Motel 6,in Santa Ana... two funny things happened that night:i really did not know where i was going,but i found a Motel 6,in Santa Ana,and waited for her that night,and less than three minutes later,she drove up to the Motel 6... we both went directly went from where we were,her from Sacramento,and me from St. George... the next morning,i actually walked into the motel pool,when she called me... i had bought the Los Angeles Times that morning and sat next to the pool,and as i turned around,i took one giant step into six feet of pool water... i still had the front page in my left hand when i knocked on the room door,and when she opened the door,i was standing there,soaking wet,with a newspaper in my left hand... she howled in laughter... i asked her what she wanted... what a scene!!! i still smile when i remember that scene...