"These Are Some of the People..." (stealing lyrics)

I was listening to Wendell Lee by Jill Sobule and it made me start thinking of all of the people I've loved before I got here.  I guess they all prepared me for being Mrs. San Diego, but I have to admit that some of them are an embarrassment and others I kind of miss!  Seriously, I was digging deep here.

I guess you could call me one of those girls who was totally boy crazy.  I remember chasing the boys around the schoolyard all the way back in Kindergarten!  Or were they chasing me?  Not sure... either way, I think it was a real set up for the rest of my life.  YIKES.  But thinking back there were definitely some significant others in my life who broke my heart, taught me bad habits and changed my life.

I laughed when I remembered being like 14 and head over heels for a younger boy who now I only remember as Vince.... what the heck was his last name???   That was probably my first broken heart when he moved away while I was in the throes of first love.  Don't get me wrong, in Jr. High, there was both David, who was really more my friend than anything and who is still my friend today and then Jay... dreamy Jay.  I still regret breaking up with that boy.  Man, I saw him years later and drooled.  But, I had to break up with him just in case he was going to break up with me!  I was 12, darn it!

Later, while I pined for Craig, I was stuck with Kevin.  Kevin who taught me how to drink beer so that he would drink less and how to fight back.  Oh, the bad choices we make... but, what lessons learned for the rest of my life.

Then there was Richard.  I knew him since I was 7.  At 17, I fell in love with him.  At 19 I moved in with him, at 22 I married him and at 24 I divorced him.  C'est la vie...  Another lesson learned and the beginning of my adulthood, a very wild beginning I might add.  I celebrated divorce with four very crazy months and then settled into a new relationship.

Billy was great.  We moved in together and I dug his way...  looking back it all feels a little phony now, but I thought he was oh so enlightened.  He was very different than anyone I had ever been with or around before - he wrote me a poem, damn it!  I learned a lot from him.  Then he became a girl, so there's that.

There were a few dalliances before That Dan came into the picture.  I'm pretty sure, although I can't swear 100%, that what I felt was lust and not love, but there was something there and it was all angsty and emotional.  I was angry and hurt from past relationships and thought I was tough as nails and able to have a casual relationship. But he woke something up and made me realize that I wasn't all as damaged as I thought I was.  Just in time, too...

Because, then Mr. San Diego started looking interesting.  I'd known him for years and became quite good friends, but more???   Scary on so many levels.  Who knew he'd be the love of my life, my soul mate and the person that would fit me the best.  Don't get me wrong, he has his faults, but marrying him was good for me and good for him and we're awesome together.

So, I guess I have a crazy past, but all of those experiences got me here.  Some people have one love their whole life.  I have had many.  I can't say which is better, but I can say that I like where I am and who I am, so for me... this worked.  So, like Jill.... "These are some of the people, that I, I went out with before I met you. These are some of the people that I thought would be the one..."

But it was you.