Hello again. Now that I have outlined the purpose of this blog I feel like I should give you my life credentials and why I understand more than I needed to know when it comes to relationships. I have had exactly 2 1/2 of them. Hmm? 2 1/2? Yes. Let me make it clear that unfortunately I invested myself 100%. To the credit of 2 of them, they tried for a bit. The 3rd was definitely maybe only 50% there because he always told me “there’s always a better seat on the bus Lopez.” (insert asshole, douche, etc..for this guy)
Let’s start with the first guy.
Young love. It’s stupid. Now I could stop right there, but sister, please. I did not start this blog without purpose. I became damaged goods from this man. This relationship hurt me more than the others and he is not even the father of my children. Why did it hurt? Because when you fall in love for the first time you give all your heart, soul and trust to that person. You never think it will end to the point that it escalates to something like the movie, War of the Roses. (go look it up if you have not seen it). This man was just plain cruel. A graduate of Penn State University. Super good looking. Seven years older than me (so he knew everything) and Greek. More importantly, his family was from the same island as mine. Therefore, after meeting him at a Greek dance, we became the talk of the town. Haha..in many, many ways. By the way, I am Greek, not Hispanic. I will explain why I kept the Lopez moniker later. For now, back to this asshole.
He lived in Pittsburgh. I was 18, he was 25. He was the first guy that really ever showed interest in actually dating me because let’s be honest, high school dating barely counts. We are learning more about what excites our bodies through sexual encounters than really having relationships. Do not tell me you don’t know what I’m saying here. Even my kids learned that. My youngest, upon her commencement 2 years ago looked at me and said “Woohoo, I made it through high school without getting pregnant!” I high fived her! Kids have sex. There’s a revelation. Open your eyes everyone!! Now back to this asshole.
I graduated and had my future set for The Ohio State University. It’s only right that this Ohio gal represent one of the finest schools in the land! O-H! (now you scream I-O!) As I spent the summer preparing to head off to school, our relationship escalated quickly. It was obvious that distance was not an issue for him. He did have a sweet ride though. We spent the summer flying up and down the turnpike in an old Trans Am worthy of Smokey and The Bandit fast! He bought that car in college and he and his dad tore the engine apart and rebuilt it to be FAST. His dad was an engineer and modifying the engine was child’s play. That car was fun to drive. T-tops and all. Let me take a moment to say relationships cannot survive just because your guy has nice cars. Haha. Also insert here, young love is stupid. So here comes college. I am packed up and moved to Columbus. My roommates were already there and 2 of them were friends from high school. Let the shenanigans begin! ——————–Nope. The idea that I was at college, actually, the idea that I was at Ohio State was when I started to see who this man really was. Unfortunately, I kept looking the other way. I know my friends all saw it. My parents saw it. My beloved Yiayia knew it. Everyone but me. And so began some of the worst years of my life. This is the man that broke me.
Enough for now. It hurts to write anymore because the idea of where this story goes next just makes me cry.
A Voice For Women 