Part I ~ Part II ~ Part III ~ Part IV ~ Part V ~ Part VI ~ Part VII ~ Part VIII ~ Part IX
The Kris Story, Part X
or...Florida
5.9.8
After leaving Ft. Collins, Kris and I spent a short amount of time in limbo, living with her mother. It was during a smoke break on her patio that we suddenly decided to leave Colorado. I had remembered hearing about how cheap the cost of living was in Florida, so I brought up the idea of moving. Drag by drag, we weighed our options. We'd miss our friends, of course, but that was the only thing we could think to place on the "con" side of the scale. The beautiful weather, the opportunities, the chance at the new life we had once sought in Arizona...everything else told us to head east. By the time we stubbed out our cigarettes, I was on the phone, asking my mom if we could stay with her for awhile.
First things first, though. We had the second annual Dunes party to throw and I had been planning to propose to Kris first as well. This wasn't a secret by any means. Kris had helped pick out her engagement ring and had in fact been instrumental in our being able to afford it. Perhaps as a warning to me, the night I went to pick up the ring, the moon and the sky both turned blood red.
In the end, I decided to propose to her the night of The Dunes. Not wanting my birthday to overshadow our anniversary in years to come, I waited until after midnight before asking Kris to step outside with me. When we were far enough away from the noise of the tent, I got down on one knee and prepared to finally deliver the speech I had come up with years before. She immediately started crying when she saw this, and as I talked, I too began to tear up. "Yes!" she answered and I pulled her down to kiss me. Then we returned to the tent and announced our engagement to riotous applause.
It was the perfect ending to our long tumultuous struggle, as cinematic and wonderful as I had always expected it to be. Had we lived inside an American film, the credits would have certainly rolled then. Real life, of course, is rarely graced with such tidy and convenient conclusions.
Soon after, we drove to Florida with all of our worldly possessions in the car. Things there weren't quite as perfect as we had expected, though. We has underestimated exactly had much we would miss our friends and constantly found ourselves trying to convince them to move as well. Also, despite the occasional midnight trip to the Megasex Adult Emporium, our already slow sex life had dwindled down to a once a month affair. She fervidly blamed this on the perceived lack of privacy that comes with living under a parent's roof.
Worst of all was the job market, which seemed no better than in Colorado. I struggled to get a low-paying retail job that never seemed to offer more than 15 hours a week. Kris had slightly better luck, ending up as a waitress for a small family owned local pub called Wings Plus. After the holidays, I was laid off and she became our sole breadwinner for the rest of our time there. I should have worked much harder at finding a new job after that but didn't for some reason. I think my main problem was how happy I was to simply have Kris as my fiancée. That feeling of contentment had practically destroyed any sense of ambition in me.
My financial uselessness became a major point of contention for us, causing many arguments. My grievances were focused on our ongoing dry spell and a few late nights out she had spent with coworkers. I trusted her, of course, but at least wanted to be informed when she was going out. It was rather embarrassing explaining to my mom that I had no idea where my fiancée was.
Still, we loved each other and enjoyed plenty of great times in Florida. Kris had even finally quit smoking pot and was beginning to get over her father's abandonment of her. She was "reformed" as she often joked (most commonly in regards to her sexuality).
Particularly of note was our anniversary, when I took her to a fancy Italian restaurant following a ferry ride through the canals. When we exchanged small gifts that night, she gave me a card which included a poem she had written for the occasion. In her card-filling verse she chronicled her rediscovered love for me and pledged her eternal devotion. She thanked me for my part in "helping her" to quit drugs, referring to that part of her past as dark times.
Eventually, Kris was offered the opportunity to have a knee surgery paid for by her mom. Kris' knees had always bothered her more than anything should ever bother someone her age. She was constantly whining about the supposed pain and used them as an excuse whenever it was convenient for her. I don't doubt that she had joint pain, but the resulting histrionics were a bit much sometimes. Either way, she happily accepted her mother's offer and flew back to Colorado.
In the end, the doctors opted to supply her with pills and exercise techniques instead of proceeding with the surgical procedure. However, during her time in Colorado, Kris had decided that she wanted to live there again. She pleaded her case to me and I agreed that it would be nice. She ended up moving in with Ace and Newguy...two of my good friends. Meanwhile, I took a temporary job at a McDonald's in order to pay my way back. During this interim period, though, we were forced to spend nearly 2 months a thousand miles apart. We called each other every day and missed each other terribly.
When I finally did make my way back to Aurora, I found that my friends were starting to turn on her; they could barely stand living with her any longer. Newguy specifically cited one incident where he found her vacuuming while listening to Everclear's Father of Mine through some headphones. He knew what song she was listening to not only because she apparently did so constantly, but also because she was screaming the lyrics over the roar of the vacuum. Perhaps, I realized, she was not as "over" that part of her life as she had led me to believe.
Newguy, by the way, hasn't been able to listen to that song ever since...
To be continued...
