The Marine

(Another "chapter" of my book)

The Marine

my age at the time: 15-17 & 18-19

his age at the time: 18-20 & 21-22

where: Chandler, Az

Ahhhh the Marine, My one true love, The one who “got away” or I should say the one I “cut loose” The Marine and I met standing outside of a friends house and he was walking by with friends, he lived a few houses away. We hit it off instantly. We met in May and he was leaving for boot camp that September, he was my first true love. It was a whirlwind romance and a wonderful summer. That summer consisted of lazy days at the pool, laying around watching Top Gun (our favorite movie), listening to Chicago and taking drives side by side in his old Ford.

The song by Brian Adams “ Summer of 69” completely takes me back to that summer.

Oh when I look back now
That summer seemed to last forever
And if I had the choice
Yeah - I'd always wanna be there
Those were the best days of my life

We were so in love and we spent every single day together. He left for boot camp and I wrote him every single day. Not a day passed that I wasn’t heart broken that he was gone. His step mother turned into a crazy pants and became incessantly jealous of our relationship. That was my first taste of the dreaded “mother of a son” syndrome, taking her baby away from her!

After boot camp he would come home every possible weekend he got leave. I also went there to visit him, now looking back I’m not sure how I was able to go there, considering I had the strictest parents around, however they seemed to always bend the rules for me.

Once I turned 17 I broke up with him to date someone that I went to high school with because I felt like I was missing out on something. The Marine was amazing and said to me “I love you, and so I will let you go date other people, but I will not date anyone because I will not be being true to my heart” He was going to wait for me. We remained very close friends for that year, and we started dating again once I turned 18.

That summer we rekindled our love and had another amazing summer. While in the Marines he was stationed in Japan, times got tough between us but we made it work, we were so young and so “in love”. He came home for leave from Japan and we were watching Top Gun on the couch and he turned to me and said “Do you want to get married” I was so excited! The next day we went to the jeweler and I got to design my “dream ring” About a week later he officially proposed to me with the ring of my dreams. I was in heaven with the man of my dreams. He returned to Japan, and I was left alone to begin making wedding plans.

It was at that time that I went to Kansas City, Missouri on a VICA conference and I met 2 people that changed my life, “Mr. National President” and “The DJ”. The DJ and I became fast friends and soon best friends, he became my sounding board when things began to get rocky. The Marine began to live a wild lifestyle while stationed in Japan, and I was beginning to have my doubts.

He returned to the States in February, we had planned to get married the following October 11th. His mother and I greeted him at the airport gate, I hadn’t seen him in almost a year! I was so utterly excited to have him home because I thought that would fix my doubts. When he got off the plane, he hugged his mother first, NOT his fiancé! I was so hurt. Once in the car on the drive back home he sat up front with his mom, not in the backseat with me as he had before. We had a huge dinner planned that night for him at his house, there was at least 20 people there. At the end of dinner as people began to clear the plates, he said “put those down, Brittney will do it, it’s her job” Yes, you read that correctly, he stated it was my job. I knew he had been in a foreign country but did he honestly think I was going to be submissive here? Well because I didn’t want to cause a scene, I cleaned the kitchen. Shortly after I escaped to the bedroom to call The DJ, he told me to stand up for myself and leave, of course I didn’t. A few more similar episodes like that transpired, until finally The DJ convinced me to leave one day. I returned home to my parents, discussed things with them and called The Marine and told him it was over. He tried for a while to get me back but at that time I had turned to The DJ and was beginning to fall for him.

The next year, The Marine was in Vegas on vacation, he met a stripper got her pregnant, got married and became a grandfather all in a matter of months, yes I said grandfather, the woman was SEVERAL years older then him.

I ran into him while I was visiting someone in Flagstaff a few years later, and it was the MOST uncomfortable situation, I had heard he was miserable with this woman, that she forbid him contact with friends and family. Well he certainly didn’t act like a happily married man. It broke my heart a little bit to see his life turn out that way.

I can’t tell you how many times I have thought “what if” I probably would have had my ranch home with my 6 babies, who knows how happy I would have truly been.

However, I will always think of him as my true love, and the one I cut loose.