Love Never Dies. Chapter Two. Tale of one friend's marriage. Autumn

I have 3 female friends and family members presently going through or recently have been through a divorce. I want to share some of their stories. I am not using real names so they remain apart of my life and I don't potentially harm their children.

First off, the divorce of Autumn...

Autumn and I have been friends since high school. I don't really recall how she came to join our group that day, but she joined us on a day trip to an amusement park. It's the 80's, so 6 of us load up in my Oldsmobile and jump on the NJ Turnpike and are off to Great Adventure, all 14-17 years old. Our parents didn't have GPS tracking from the smartphones we didn't have and no adult chaperone. They just assumed we'd find our way home by around 11 pm that evening, two hours after the park closed. In this case, I don't recall our really doing anything that stood out in our activities, but I was new to the school, having transferred to public school from a private school in another state, and it would soon not be the case. I tended to be the leader, the risk taker, with lemmings that followed. It is no wonder Autumn's Mother grew to hate me in the not too distant future and I don't know that it has greatly changed to this day.

Autumn and I became very close while I finished high school. But,she was 2 grades behind me, so I was off to college and she still 2 years to go before finishing high school. She was not happy at our public school and in my freshman year of college at Green Mountain College in Vermont, she was sent, at least for part of the year, to a private school in Long Island. I recall one weekend that she wanted to come see me, so she took a bus from the school to a ferry and I drove from Central Vermont to Bridgeport, CT to pick her up some 3 hours away. My car had a tire rod break and we ended up sleeping in the car at an Exxon station in not so inviting Bridgeport. We tried to take shelter in an emergency room at a hospital but a group of nuns kicked us out. I also recall Autumn waking up in the front seat from a dead sleep (I was in the back) screaming as a guard dog was a top our vehicle. Daring as I was in those days, that horrified me. Actually, the whole evening did as it was pretty close to homeless in a place I didn't want to be even in shelter. We got the car fixed the next day and headed to Vermont. As far as I can recall, it was only one day later, perhaps two (a long weekend?) and Autumn was to head back. She was taking a bus from Vermont. One problem. An unexpected October snowstorm hit and she ended up stranded in Putney, Vermont. Thankfully, a nice couple she met with a 2nd home there took her in and made sure she called home and got back off to school. The calling home part was a bit of a problem; her parents didn't know she was away. Among many stories of why her Mother isn't fond of me, albeit I didn't tell Autumn to take off from the school, though I doubt I tried to stop her either. We were closer than dating yet not a "couple."

Autumn dropped out of university in New England and moved to San Francisco and lived and even worked with me when I graduated from school. She moved to Baltimore with me when I moved again about 2 1/2 years later. Then, she decided it was time to move on her own again, go back to school, and went to school in  DC. It was in her 1st home share she met what would become her husband, Dave. It was there we started to part ways for a number of years.

I reconnected with Autumn after a roughly 10 year absence right after a I attended a family funeral near where she lived in 2006. Most of this time I had, at that point,I had also been in Southern CA. But, that is an excuse. We had earlier stayed in touch, visited each other with frequency without internet, social media, expensive long distance and cell phones. It was really Dave first and foremost. But, I had been back around DC over that time, where she remained. There was also her Mother. I had done this old school method of writing letters to her childhood home. Letters her Mother never did give her...

While it has been a long time, suffice to say, I feel like I know Autumn pretty well. There is little to nothing we haven't shared at one point or another. This actually includes, unlike any of my other few close female friends, sexual experiences. We had not only had sex together, we had one of my few and my guess is her only bi-sexual 3 way experiences, and she watched me have sex with a boyfriend. We shared stories of our experiences with others in rather graphic detail as a result. So, when I arrived at her home and she had 2 young children, the woman who continually proclaimed since high school that their were "no offspring coming from this snatch" somewhat surprised me. Unlike almost anyone else in our age group, she was least likely to succumb to societal pressures and she had little regard for her Mother, and her Father I  don't believe put such pressures on her ever. Never mind the sexual aspect, I knew her pretty well mentally for years as well. I bring this all up to build all the complexity.

I arrived at the home shortly after the funeral, deciding not to attend the reception at the family home. It was a huge funeral with literally over 1000 people and while perhaps a few hundred would attend the reception, I still wouldn't feel apart of the external family I had all these years. Being in that home, looking at my guest room, right off the kitchen (the servant quarters), would only further puncture a broken heart. Autumn knew how dear this Aunt was to me and had met her years ago. She has been to that home.

Autumn and Dave's home is not what I imagine Autumn really wanted for herself. Sure enough, a fair bit of our visit was spent with her complaining about the problems with it. While she was putting on a facade about her love for Dave,she couldn't help but complain about all the unfinished projects, remodeling that needed to be done, etc. The home reminded me somewhat of the home Autumn grew up in when we met in high school. Not similar in design so much, but with awkward additions, things in need of repair and the like. I learned after dinner when we went for a walk that it was by the water which is nice and a draw to most.

Autumn and I spent several hours catching up. Autumn showed me pictures of her wedding, baby pictures; all things that probably seems normal for most. All things that I should have immediately clued in were delusional with Autumn. I think Autumn might have loved to have had a fabulous wedding to remember. Instead, she had about a half dozen friends at an arboretum. I don't even recall if and what was the reception. Why was she sharing pictures with me? Again, while I have no doubt she loves her children, Motherly instincts are not natural for her. Thankfully, I don't think she ever scrapbooked or I might not have ever gotten off that uncomfortable, old sofa that I believe she referred to as an antique.

We had dinner at a historic restaurant I had not been to since my now deceased Aunt had taken my Mother, brother and I in my childhood that was near Autumn's home. We took a walk down to the dock by her house following. So as I said goodbye to an Aunt with a love that will never die, I reopened doors with a very special friend and a love that will also never die.

Her divorce will start in chapter 3. It's as complex as our relationship...