"Splender In the Grass"

The movie we watched that night was "Slender in the Grass" with Natalie Wood and Warren Beaty. A classic. As the movie got close to the end I swear it was like a lightning bolt came down crashing on my head.

There's a scene in the movie where Natalie Wood's character gets out of a mental hospital and goes to see the "Love of her Life".
She tracked down Warren Beaty's character only to find that once handsome love of her life, married to a now very pregnant woman and he walked into the house filthy from working in the field of his farm.

She looked at him and knew she would never be with him again. It was like someone was talking directly to me. I knew that if I left Bob in Kansas, I would never be with him again. His doctors told him he could never go back there if he wanted to live.

I did the only thing I could think of, I asked Bob if he wanted to get "MARRIED". He was stunned. He asked me if I was serious and who could blame him. I told him that I was never more serious. He told me that he loved me and it would be his honor.
We went to sleep that night and Bob woke me up really early the next morning. The first thing he did was ask me if I had changed my mind yet. He was adorable. He had grown accustomed to me rejecting his marriage proposals and he just wanted to be sure. I told him that I had not changed my mind, I wanted to marry him.

He got the yellow pages out and we tracked down a "Justice of the Peace" in Olatha Kansas that would marry us without the three day waiting period or blood tests. We got dressed, had breakfast, went and bought two gold wedding bands and found a cab to the court house. Judge Walton married us and his secretary was our only witness.

I got married in a purple fringe jacket and purple cords. It was the happiest day of my life. We went back to our hotel and called our families. Now in our excitement we never thought for one moment that our families probably thought we were both crazy. They all were so gracious. After all we had known each other for over five years it certainly wasn't two strangers eloping. The only person who openly told us the truth was his doctor. He was appalled. It was his plan that Bob never go back to L.A. and he didn't even know I was coming to visit, let alone marry Bob.

We had a remarkable dinner at the Hotel restaurant. I will never forget it. "The Peppercorn Duck Club" was the name of it.
We dined on Chateaubriand and for dessert there was this amazing chocolate bar. Ice cream with all the toppings that you could imagine. It was romantic. Just the two of us madly in love without a care in the world or a plan for that matter.

The following morning Bob decided we needed to go on a Honeymoon. I only had three days left before I had to go back to Los Angeles. We flew to Aspen Colorado. I had never been there. It was a winter wonderland. We spent our honeymoon there and celebrated Thanksgiving at the same time.
No two people have ever felt more grateful to be together. Bob told me a story of a nun who had given him a copy of the book of "Job" to read. The story had quite an impact on his life. It was that book that made the biggest difference in our lives. He told me the story of Job and that he prayed everyday to just please help him stay sober and he prayed that someday he would have a second chance at a family. Perhaps a son to take to the ball games with. The hospital had taken him to games while he was there and it had impacted him so greatly it was all he prayed for. Sobriety for a second chance at a sober new family life. He could never mend his first marriage and he just adored his daughter, but the damage had already been done. She was pretty much "Lost" to him in the sense that a weekend father would never fill the hole in his gut.

I had watched him for years cry rivers of tears over the loss of being a full time father. He desperately wanted a second change. God was going to answer his prayers. He had just answered the first one. He had been convinced that I was no longer an option. He had to move on and get over me. I had tried the same thing. It's funny how destiny took charge.
We were destined to be together. There was no question about that. Most people could have never survived our first five years together and still even talk to one another. This man was my soul mate there wasn't anything that would tear us apart.
Bound by love and destiny. An epic love story unfolding before our very eyes. We just climbed on board and let the gods above show us our future one day at a time.
The Beautiful tortured soul that I had grown to love so completely was healing from the inside out. I thanked my god in heaven that he had given me the ability to see the beautiful soul that was inside this man. I had never known anyone as smart, kind and simply mesmerizing as he was. I had also never known anyone so completely out of control and on a crash course to hell as he had been.

Hopefully that part of our lives was behind us now. It was not a choice, I told Bob I was only staying married to him thru sobriety only. I could never repeat any of the past out of control years. I was in it only thru sobriety. It was enough for him a bargain was struck between us. We both put the past behind us and enthusiastically embraced our new marriage and his sobriety.