Reunited

Jim and I originally met on August 18, 1986 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky where we were both stationed with the United States Army. I was a 20 year old private and Jim was a 39 year old sergeant who was married with two teenage sons who were living in Indianapolis, Indiana. I was assigned to his cleaning detail for a week. For the first week, Jim and I were just friends and coworkers, nothing more. On Friday of the first week, we had a half day of work so Jim and I decided to go to Nashville, Tennessee to do some sightseeing for the weekend.

After that weekend, we spent as much time together as we could for the following three months until Jim left Fort Campbell, Kentucky after his retirement from the Army after serving for 20 years. He retired in December of 1986 but left Fort Campbell in November to return to Indianapolis to live with his wife and sons. I stayed behind at Fort Campbell until I was honorably discharged on December 24, 1986. I returned to my family in my home state of Massachusetts.

Jim and I continued our long distance relationship through letters and phone calls, although I have to admit that I was not very good at letter writing. In early July of 1987, Jim visited his mother in New York then came to Massachusetts to see me for a few days. We continued communicating after that. In July of 1988, Jim and I spent a week together traveling through Vermont and upstate New York. It was during this week that Jim and I decided it would be easier on both of us to just be friends since he was still married and lived so far away. We continued communicating from that week on until January of 1993 when I told him that I was getting married.

After I told him of my engagement, Jim wished me well and said that if I ever needed anything to let him know because he wanted us to remain friends. From the time that Jim and I stopped communicating in early 1993, I continued working, got married and became an aunt in February of 1997. I think I mainly got married because I was tired of being single in a couple oriented world. I sometimes wonder if I wasn't forced into marriage.

Jim tried to make his own marriage work but he wasn't entirely happy. He often felt like he was working only to pay the bills with nothing to show for it. His wife and he started living separate lives at this point with each of them doing their own thing but continuing to live in the same house and share a bed. During this time, Jim started seeing another woman off and on for the past ten years while his wife was content with the way her life was.

Fast forward, 10 years later.

Jim and I started looking for each other in early 2001 by searching on the Internet. Neither of us had any luck finding the other until March of 2003 when I happened to spell his name right and found his address. I wrote him a letter and mailed it the next day.

Jim received my letter on March 17, 2003, a Monday and called me that night from Denny's Restaurant, where he hung out quite frequently. We didn't talk long that evening because I had to go to work so we agreed to talk on Saturday evening. He called me Saturday evening but we didn't talk long that night either because he was helping his oldest son move and I was going bowling with my family so we agreed to talk Sunday evening. He called me Sunday evening and we talked for over two hours getting caught up on what had happened in our lives for the past ten years.

Jim told me that his marriage was basically in name only with him and his wife sharing a house and name but nothing else. He also told me that his oldest son had been married and was divorced with a six year old daughter and that his youngest son was married now to his high school sweetheart. I told him that my marriage wasn't much better. I felt more single at times during my marriage than I ever did when I was single. Jim and I originally talked about meeting in New York in August of 2003.

Jim hooked me up with America Onine's Instant Message and we started talking on the computer as often as we could which was every night. We also talked on the phone on the weekends. I think it was in late April that I started to seriously think about leaving my husband and moving to Indianapolis.

I had plans to go to Virginia for vacation in June with a friend of mine but my car broke down in early May and it took nearly all the money I had saved for vacation to pay for the car repairs. I was surfing the Internet one night after talking with Jim and I decided to check out the bus fares and schedules for a round trip bus ride from Pittsfield, Massachusetts to Indianapolis, Indiana. I emailed Jim with my idea to come visit him in Indianapolis for vacation. At first, he wasn't too happy with my idea especially my riding alone for that long of a trip. I reassured him that I had been on a bus trip before and that I would have my cell phone with me and on all the way. He accepted my plan and set me up in a hotel three miles from his house.

After I told my husband my change of plans, he gave me an ultimatum; him or Jim and gave me a year to decide. I left Pittsfield, Massachusetts at 11:40 AM on June 7, 2003 and arrived in Indianapolis, Indiana at 7:10 AM on June 8, 2003. I first saw Jim sitting on a concrete barrier at the bus station just as the bus pulled into the yard. I stepped off the bus, looked him over and asked, "Are you looking for someone?" With that, Jim smiled and pulled me into his arms for a big bear hug of welcome and friendship, which I returned in full force.

Jim and I spent most of my vacation week together. I made the final decision to leave my husband and move to Indianapolis permanently. Jim introduced me to a woman he has known for fifteen years who rents out rooms in her condo and she agreed to let me live with her rent free until I found a job in exchange for providing her companionship and helping out around the house. I left Indianapolis on June 14 at 9:00 PM and arrived in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on June 15 at 7:30 PM. I told my mother and husband of my decision to move to Indianapolis that evening after we dropped my sister and nephew off. They were both very unhappy with my decision. My original return date was set for July 1, 2003.

Jim works as a maintenance technician and was on call for emergency maintenance calls for the entire week I was in Indianapolis. On June 18, Jim was discharged from his job as a maintenance technician. He called me at 11:30 AM and we talked on the computer for the rest of the day. That day, we started talking about changing my return date.

We set the date for June 27, a Friday. After talking more, we decided on June 26, a Thursday. After talking more, we decided that we would both leave our respective cities on Wednesday, June 25. I was scheduled to work overnight on June 24, a Tuesday. I worked overnight for my boss on Monday, June 23 and didn't really want to stay another night. I turned my modem in and finished packing my car for the move to Indianapolis on the morning of June 24.

About 2 or 2:30 PM, Indianapolis time on June 24, Jim and I were in our respective homes, talking on the phone, just killing time before leaving the next morning for Buffalo, New York. I asked him what were we waiting for? I have everything done that I needed to do and didn't really want to wait until the following morning. Jim said let me make a quick phone call and I'll call you right back. He called his wife, told her he was leaving for Buffalo then called me and said let's go. I left North Adams, Massachusetts for Buffalo, New York at 3:30 PM EDT and Jim left Indianapolis, Indiana for Buffalo at the same time.

Jim and I met at Denny's Restaurant on the New York State Thruway just south of Buffalo at 10:45 PM, ten days after I left Indianapolis on the bus. We spent a couple of days in Cassandra, New York helping his cousin to move and also spent a day in Niagara Falls, New York, sightseeing. We left Cassandra, New York on June 28 and arrived in Indianapolis late afternoon on June 29.

After our return to Indianapolis, Jim and I started looking for work together and dating. We spent ninety percent of our time together during that time and went to several baseball games, went hiking one day and spent a day at the zoo. We became closer than anyone ever expected us to, even us. We spent a lot of evenings together, either sitting in my room at the condo or going sightseeing. He usually left to go home at 10 at night.

On August 18, 2003, seventeen years to the day since Jim and I first met, we went to put in applications for a janitorial position. AFter we filled out the application, one of the people who worked in the office was Jim's former boss. She hired us on the spot and we started working that evening. We worked for this company for two months until they decided that they wanted us in separate buildings. Jim and I aren't comfortable with me working in a building alone at night so we resigned from this company.

The weekend we resigned from this company, we went back east to visit our families. It was a good trip and fun.

A week after we quit the first job, Jim and I had an interview at 5 PM for another janitorial position. Again, we were hired on the spot and started that evening. We have since been made co supervisors of one building. We work Sunday through Thursday. Our boss is really nice and easy to get along with.

During the time that Jim and I were seeing each other since we returned to Indianapolis, his wife didn't know he was seeing anyone else. On September 13, 2003, Jim and I were just hanging out checking out various yard and garage sales when he got a call on his cell phone from his wife. She asked him to take a bookcase down to her friend's house in the southern part of the city. At first, he wasn't going to do it because he didn't want to leave me at the condo but after talking about it, we decided it was time to bring our affair out into the open. Jim called his wife back and said he would do it but he wasn't alone.

AFter we loaded the bookcase into Jim's truck, his wife asked him if he would be home for breakfast Sunday morning. He told her that he wouldn't be home for the rest of the weekend. On September 16, 2003, Jim spent his last night in the house he shared with his wife for seventeen years. He told his wife on September 18 that their 35 year marriage was over and moved in with me that following Monday. She has since filed for a legal separation and he has filed for a divorce. Their lawyers are working on their case.

In all of the time that I've known Jim and have been friends with him, I never once asked him to leave his wife. I also never forced him to do anything he didn't want to do. He left his wife on his own with no force or pressure from me. Neither one of us meant to hurt anyone. We just want a chance to be happy, that's all.

My divorce hasn't started yet; Jim's lawyer has agreed to do mine after the first of the year.