There are some that will read this that don't know the history that Richard and I have, and many of the ones who do may not know the extent of our history together!We met in the sixth grade at a band concert in Liberal Ks while attending two different middle schools. About a year later I moved to Tyrone, Ok where I found that Richard had moved as well. At this point we were in the seventh grade. We started dating for the first time not long after I moved there. We continued dating on and off throughout junior high and part of high school. Our sophomore year we split up one last time and spent about a year not speaking.
At that point our lives started changing a lot. I started hanging out with a different group of people that had the potential to get me or help me get into trouble. Throughout this time I never took my eyes off of him. I hid my feelings from him and the rest of the world. When I was sixteen I found out I was pregnant with a child by a man I had only been dating a short time, and the relationship ended shortly there after. It was not long after this that my communication with Richard started up again. All the while still hiding my feelings from him to protect him from the burden I was now bearing.
I started dating a man that I was working with who knew about the baby and was ok with it. After the baby was born he asked me to marry him... It was with some hesitation that I accepted. I went to Richard the very next time I had the chance to talk to him to tell him I was now getting married, hoping for some sort of sign that would tell me no don't do it, but got nothing. So I then got married at 18. Even still, I could not let go of him no matter how hard I tried.
When his sister Emma came back to Liberal they got an apartment together. We started getting together all four of us and Brieanna for dinner, "steak night". Not long after steak night started I found out I was pregnant with my second baby! At this point, I was sure there was no hope for the two of us... so I gave up. I never stopped loving him but gave up on the thought there was a chance.
When I was about 6 months pregnant Richard told me he was joining the army. My heart sank at this point, this was after 9/11 so I could only imagine what he was going to. So he went away, first to basic of course, and to Kuwait, and Korea and of course the places in between. We would keep in touch through email mostly while he was away over seas. When he was home between tours, I would talk to him a little more and he came up to Kansas from Ft. Hood a couple of times to visit. The last trip he made was before he shipped out to Korea. I wanted so badly to tell him, I loved him and I hated to see him go back overseas, but of course I could not. I was in a marriage where everyday I had to pretend that I was happy and try to carry on life as a wife and mother.
While Richard was in Korea we kept very good contact considering the circumstances and the distance. It was not until near the end of his tour in Korea that I began to feel there may still be something there. However, I just pushed it aside as false hope or something to that effect. I came down to Austin when he flew in from Korea. I was here with my best friend, Tracy, for just one day. That day the three of us walked like 3 miles, maybe more, around Round Rock just talking and catching up on somethings. At about eleven, I think it was, Tracy went to bed and Richard and I sat beside the pool talking until 6 am about everything that came to mind. It was that night beside the pool that we finally opened up our feelings that had been bottled up for so long. There were many tears shed that night for many reasons, but it was the beginning of the happiest part of my life. Tracy and I went home the next day, and life in Kansas was just awful. I did not want to be there any more at all.
In January, Tracy and I were supposed to come down to visit again, however Tracy could not come so I came by myself. It was at this point that we decided that there was a decision to be made. I had to go back, file for divorce, and move to Texas or we were both going to be unhappy for the rest of our lives. I filed for divorce two weeks later, and moved to Round Rock on March 4. Since then I have been happier than I could have ever imagined. We are planning our wedding for January 27th 2008. This is why the dream has been held silent for nearly a decade!!
~Leslie
