Hey, Remember Me?

Message from Monica (Tuesday):

Hey! Remember me? We used to be married. Saw you on this Old Friends site.

Message from Bill (Sunday):

Long time since I heard from you. Where are you now?

Message from Monica (Monday):

In the US. Texas.

Message from Bill (Wednesday):

Still there, 25 years later? I thought you wanted to move around more.

Message from Monica (Wednesday):

That’s a long story. Want to swap email addresses so we can catch each other up?

Message from Bill (Monday):

Why not? I’m BillsDogs@dogbreeders.co.uk.

Email from Monica (Saturday):

Hi, Bill. God, it has really been 25 years, hasn’t it? A quarter of a century. Seems like a lifetime.

Last time we talked, I was going to Austin to work. I guess we were in touch through your solicitor after that, when you sold the house. I ended up staying there for 3 years. It was great, but everyone’s focus on money really bothered me. I decided to sell up and move on. After a few false starts, I ended up in Australia.

How about you?

Email from Bill (Monday):

Down Under, eh? Doesn’t sound like you. You were always a city girl.

I kept working on construction contracts for a few years, but I prefer working for myself. I suppose I needed you doing the books for me, so I didn’t do well with my private clients. Sorry I didn’t thank you for what you used to do.

Did you get married again?

Email from Monica (Friday):

I got a Bachelor’s degree. I worked for a bank who paid my school fees and gave me time off. I lived with an Aussie while I was over there. Learned to SCUBA dive, dived the Great Barrier Reef. Then we decided to go to North America. There’s more air conditioning there! When it’s hot in Oz, you just melt.

So the Aussie and I got married to make immigration easier. We’d been together for 6 years, but I didn’t really want to get married again (learned my lesson there with you!). Much smaller wedding this time around.

What did you do after the construction work?

Email from Bill (Thursday):

I sold the house and used the proceeds to pay off my debts. I did a bit of restaurant management, then I started showing and breeding springer spaniels. I’m on the road a lot. The attachment is a picture at Crufts last year.

So you and your new husband are back in Austin?

Email from Monica (Sunday):

We split up a few years ago. I was living in a gated community while the boy from Oz and I were still together. They have a thing called a Home Owners’ Association over here that is just an excuse for neighbors to stick their noses into your life and control the way you look after your garden. Now I’m out in the country, and it’s so much better.

Great to see the picture of you with your dogs. Funny thing – I’m a dog trainer now. I founded the company a year or two ago with my friend Trish. We live north of Dallas. It’s so great working with animals and actually helping people, instead of being a meaningless cog in corporate America.

Email from Bill (Monday):

A lot of women in the dog business over here are in same sex relationships too. It seems to be a thing.

I’m glad you’ve been able to settle down. I always wondered what happened to you. Sorry we didn’t make it together.

I never married again. It’s just me and the dogs. None of the women I met measured up to you. Even though we weren’t happy together, you were so strong and so adventurous. I’m happy that you managed to get out of the white collar world – it was a waste of your talents.

Unsent draft email from Monica (Tuesday):

No, I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant. Trish and I are not an item. We’re just living together for convenience.

Having said that, I don’t think I’m the marrying kind. I hated being married – not just to you, but to the boy from Oz as well. Just feels like being in a cage. Both marriages were 6 years of a decent relationship, followed by 4 years of married misery. I do better on my own.

I thought you would have married, though. You wanted an emotional relationship, and you never got that with me. I even heard from Mike that you considered following me to the States after I left. Was that true?

Email from Monica (Saturday):

Are you happy with just you and the dogs? I hope so. You deserve happiness, just not with me. I remember your mother died when you were only a kid. It seems like the women in your life have let you down.

Tell me more about your life now. Where do you live?

Unsent draft email from Bill (Sunday):

I suppose I’m happy. I live in Nottingham. It’s cheaper than London, and easier to afford space for the dogs. I’m on the darts team at the local pub. Just like when we lived in that bedsit in Croydon.

The only downside is I moved away from all my old friends. But some of them were not great friends after all. Vince told me a few years ago about you and him. I knew about other men, but you didn’t even like him. What made you sleep with him?

Email from Bill (Friday):

I’m happy. I live in Nottingham. It’s cheaper than London, and easier to afford space for the dogs. I’m on the darts team at the local pub.

My brother Andy made a ton of money. Yes, it was a surprise to everyone else, too. So he invested in my business, and I’m pretty comfortable. He said to send you his best. I forgot about you staying with him when you were on site in Maidstone. I think he had a bit of a thing for you, but you didn’t notice.

I just realized you said you had a much smaller wedding the second time. The first time, it was at the registry office and there was just us, our parents, and Andy. How much smaller did it get???

Unsent draft email from Monica (Sunday):

Andy made a big difference in my life. We never had any sort of relationship, but he introduced me to modern music after I’d spent several years being settled and away from new trends. He actually introduced me to one of my favorite albums, Bat Out of Hell. In return I took him out to fine dining places on my expense account. Please send him all my best and let him know how he affected me.

We didn’t have any hardware at my second wedding. One of the best things about our divorce was getting rid of the wedding ring. My finger had swollen, so the jeweler cut the ring off and then paid me its value based on the weight of the gold. It was a really cathartic experience.

Email from Monica (Tuesday):

Ha! I’m so glad Andy made money. He was a nice kid, but selling his house and living off the proceeds in his 20s seemed like a terrible idea, even to me!! Please send him my best.

The second wedding was in the house we were renting in the Sydney suburbs. We invited a couple of friends over and they acted as witnesses. (They might not have been told they were coming to a wedding.) The celebrant came over, had a glass of wine with us, and did the deed, then gave us a hand-completed certificate and left. After that the four of us drank good red wine and ate antipasti while we fed the kookaburras on our balcony. I didn’t mention it to my family until a few months later.

Email from Bill (Friday):

That sounds like a good wedding. We were both pretty nervous when we got married. I think we both had reservations about doing it, but it did help us buy the house together. My stepmother was not sure we should do it, but she didn’t think it was her place to say anything.

Talking of my stepmother, she’s still alive. My dad died a few years ago. How is your mother doing?

Are you considering a trip back to the UK any time soon? I’d really like to catch up with you in person.

End of email chain.