Bob and I met in 1976. I was working days at a department store and 3 nights a week as a cocktail waitress in a popular club. Bob’s friends were in a band and they played a few times at the club. He asked me out numerous times but I always turned him down. I was a pretty young 19 and he was a much older, in more ways than one, 29. I worked until 2:00 am and Bob started hanging around to walk me to my car. I still wouldn’t go out with him. Finally one of my friends who knew him told me he was a nice guy and would I please just go out on a date with the guy. Bob and I dated for 2 very intense years and then broke up. He thought I was too young to know what I wanted and he was right. We stayed in touch and stayed friends (most of the time) for the next 6 years. During that time he met a girl he was very much in love with and I met a boy I was very much in love with. There was some off and on drama over these years including Bob asking me to marry him twice and me asking him to marry me once.
In January of 1984 Bob was living in Dallas after just moving from Houston for work. I was living in Detroit after just moving from Ft. Lauderdale and breaking up with my boyfriend. Bob travelled to Detroit to visit his parents, we met up for dinner and Bob asked me to visit him in Dallas. So off I went to Dallas where after 8 years Bob decided I had grown up enough and I decided he had settled down enough and we decided to get married! I was 27 and he was 37. We were finally the same age!
The first 3 years after we got married we lived in Dallas. Bob was transferred to San Francisco for 6 years and then on to San Diego for about 2 before he was laid off and we moved back to Michigan and that, as they say, is "a whole nother story".
A few things you may or may not know about Bob:
He was extremely sentimental. He played baseball in high school and was scouted by the majors. He played softball until he was in his 60’s. He was very popular in high school. His dad owned a gas station and Bob worked there when he was young. He could fix pretty much anything and knew more about cars than anyone I know. He loved Pink Floyd. He was in Vietnam. He joined the Army with his best friend before they got drafted so they could have a better selection of what kind of job they would get (he drove heavy trucks). He was stationed in Washington DC on riot duty after he came back from Vietnam (still shaking my head at that one). The night before we got married he had to talk me into going through with it. He gave up smoking to marry me and then used to sneak cigarettes (with my mother!) until I caught him and he gave them up for good. When he was young he wore glasses but he never knew why and then one day he just quit wearing them…and he didn’t need them! He was married for 4 years in his early 20’s. When he was in his late teens and early 20’s he and his buddies used to race cars all over the metro Detroit area, mostly on Woodward and Gratiot, and Bob used to make money doing it. He was shot in a bar fight. Did I mention he loved baseball?
The hole in my heart will always ache but over this past year it has subsided some and I can look back on all of this with a smile instead of tears. Thank you all for your love and support.
I won a copy of "Riveted" by Meljean Brook a few weeks ago. I read it last week and I have to say I totally enjoyed this book. It's the 3rd in her Iron Seas series and I think the best of the bunch. It is a great steampunk adventure with a wonderful romance.. or great steampunk romance with a wonderful adventure. The characters were strong yet vulnerable. I cried! I am not much of a reviewer so below is what RT Bookreview magazine said, 
