My Story - Part 3

My relationship with Cameron progressed very quickly.  We met in May, we began our long-distance relationship in June, and in September he proposed.  We exchanged cards, gifts, and photos via mail.  We talked on the phone every day.  We talked online every night.  My parents knew I had an online boyfriend, but they didn't realize how serious the relationship was.

In November 1998, I made arrangements to go visit him in Arizona.  I arrived on a Friday and left on Tuesday.  They were five of the best days of my life.  We visited some of the sites in and around Tucson.  We had a picnic on top of a mountain.  I met his parents.  On Monday, we went downtown and got our marriage license.  We had a plan.  We had decided that I would move to Arizona to be with him.  We had planned to get married on Valentine's Day in 1998.

I was living with my parents at the time.  He had a steady job and an apartment.  It made more sense for me to move there.  The day I had to leave Arizona to return to Kentucky was terrible.  I cried all morning.  It took everything I had to make myself get on the plane.  When I got on, it took everything I had to make myself stay on the plane.  I just wanted to stay with him.  However, I knew it wouldn't be fair to my family or to my employer to just not come back.

I came home with a letter from Cameron explaining to my parents about our relationship.  I thought it would mean more coming from him.  He bought me a one-way ticket to Arizona.  I gave notice at my job and started packing my things.  I would return to Arizona on December 6, 1997.  My Mom didn't say much about the situation.  My Dad tried to forbid me to move there (I was 22-years old so he didn't have a leg to stand on).  On the morning I was leaving, I had an early flight.  My Dad got up to hug me goodbye, but he wouldn't go to the airport with me.  My Dad is a big soft-hearted guy and he didn't want me to go.  My Mom just asked me a few times if I was sure I wanted to do this.

When I left Kentucky it was 0 degrees outside.  When I arrived in Tucson, it was 70 degrees and sunny.  Quite a change!

I loved living in Arizona.  I found an office job not too far from my husband's workplace.  I hated that job.  I spent all day in a filing room.  There were no electrical outlets in that room so I couldn't even have decent music to listen to.  I could get elevator music from the phone in there, but after a little while the songs would repeat and I would start to go crazy.  I quit that job after about a month.  I needed more mental stimulation than that.  

I started another office job through a temp agency.  I had only been there for a few weeks when I received a panicked call from Cameron.  He had been transferred to another store and the general manager at that store just up and quit with no notice.  The business owner decided he would now be the General Manager.  He was also the primary technician. He needed someone to work the counter to help with customers and asked if I would do it.  I loved the idea of working with him and I accepted right away.