Nothing prepares you for the moment of love at first sight, especially when you don’t think it exists. I barely heard a word she said as I was too busy trying to process a torrent of raw emotion. I had no clue what the hell was going on...only there was no one else in the world except her at that moment. I mumbled through some pleasantries and went back to my seat. Jesus, I thought, I need a drink. Badly.
I asked the club owner and bartender if anyone had seen her before. Nope. Great, no one who could introduce me. I’ll give you an idea of how affected I was...I asked her to dance. Now anyone who’s known me for more than 5 minutes knows there are a few things I just don’t do...and dancing is at the top of the list. It was the only way I knew to start a conversation with her. So we danced, and just before the end of the song I slipped her a note with my name and number. She took it without looking at it, but did ask me to sit down. I remember asking about the guy she came in with, but she said he was just a friend. (He was...one I never managed to get along with, but anyhow). We talked very briefly about nothing much as I had to go backstage and introduce the next act, but she mentioned she listened to my show in the afternoons. I told her I was glad I met her, went backstage, and had another drink. As I walked onstage I had the weirdest feeling...a hunch that I’d be here again...with her. Turns out I was right, but that comes later.
The next couple of days were hell. The only thing I wanted was for her to call me. Every time the phone rang I said a silent prayer it was her (and praying is another one of the things I don’t do). On top of all that I had to deal with these new feelings. I’d met people before, obviously. Why was this one so different? What the hell was going on? Was I going nuts?
Finally, it happened. I was in the middle of my airshift when she called on the request line.
Never had I been so happy to hear a voice. We talked for awhile and I threw caution to the wind and asked her out. We went to my favorite Chinese restaurant that night and from there hardly left each others sight. In fact, we moved in together 3 weeks later.
I had it ALL. Programming a radio station and the most beautiful girl in the world. I brought her home for Thanksgiving and was really surprised that no one seemed to feel the same way toward her as I did. My friends shared my family’s opinion. They were happy for me but didn’t care for her much. I blithely ignored these alarm bells and settled into one of the happiest periods in my life.
Her family, on the other hand, was a swirling morass of dysfunction. Mom was a narcissistic manipulator and Dad was rooted in a deep angry depression that made him a mean, bitter and sarcastic asshole after a fatal car accident in which he was driving killed his wife. Her brother was just a spoiled over-entitled idiot struggling with his then-latent homosexuality.
So what did I do? Yup, I allowed Dad and Brother to move in with us. Smart, huh? Even so, I was happy.
A couple paragraphs ago I wrote of the hunch I had that I’d be on that nightclub stage again, and she’d be with me. I was right. As we headed in to the 1990 holiday season I wanted to throw our station a first birthday party. It was quite a bash, with a couple live bands, catered food, cheap drinks and about 500 people. We carried the party live on air. A couple minutes before midnight I was onstage to lead the crowd in a New Years toast.
I often spoke on air about things in my life, including her. In fact I referred to her as "the cherry on my sundae". Most, if not all listeners had heard me mention this as I did it often.
So I grab the mic and ask if they’d like to meet the cherry on my sundae. The crowd, well lubricated by this time, roared yes. I asked her to come up with me and introduced her to a packed nightclub. As we stood onstage I told the crowd I had to do one more thing. I pulled a ring from my pocket and live on the air asked her to marry me. The applause was deafening but I didn’t hear it. She said yes. That started a roller coaster ride that was to end in disaster about 6 months later.
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