Dodger and I had been dating about a month \u2013 we started the day after Thanksgiving. We had moved quickly \u2013 the adrenalin rush of a new crush that felt like champagne bubbles in your brain.<\/p>\n
I had met his parents, even slept each weekend in his parents\u2019 guest room (he was slightly old-fashioned, but they lived next door \u2013 so no major travel issues). He texted and called several times \u2013 wanting to be part of everything in my world.<\/p>\n
Dodger had a small son, and was strapped for cash, so I had pulled in some favors and raided the prize closet at the radio station where I worked and was able to get some great gifts for him to give including a Phat poster that cost over $100 and some video games. His son was coming for 2 weeks to visit, so I knew our time together would be limited. <\/p>\n
My mother went back to New England for Christmas, but I had to work, so I was going to be alone for Christmas. Dodge promised to come down after church on Sunday and would stay with me through Christmas Eve Monday.<\/p>\n
I took my time and made a special dinner \u2013 and had it ready for the normal time he would arrive. I wrapped up some extra presents I had bought for Dodger \u2013 hand-picked out because money was tight, and I had shopped carefully to stretch my funds.<\/p>\n
He arrived 3 hours late with no apologies, and I did my best to re-heat the now cold and soggy meal. He crashed in the middle of my queen-sized bed leaving me balancing precariously on the edge \u2013 over it in fact, as the rolled edge of the mattress made an angry red indent up the side of my body.<\/p>\n
I woke up early and made eggs and pancakes and sausages, which he sniffed suspiciously. His eyes only lit up when I brought out the presents. I gave him first the gifts for his son. He looked at each one greedily, but seemed disappointed when they stopped coming. Then I gave him the 3 gifts I could get for him. One was a DVD he had said he wanted, and said \u201cI\u2019ll wait and watch this with my son!\u201d \u2013 the next 2 he asked if he could return for something else for his son. I told him where I got them (he was annoyed I had not kept the receipts) and then he got dressed and got ready to leave. <\/p>\n
I was surprised. \u201cI thought we were going to spend the day together? Your son isn\u2019t coming until tonight and you arrived so late yesterday . . .\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n He made no apologies. \u201cSorry, babe \u2013 it\u2019s Christmas Eve and I\u2019ve got so much to do, I just can\u2019t stay.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Then he was gone and I was alone. It was only after he left and I was cleaning up the dishes that I realized he hadn\u2019t even gotten me a card or said thank you. The evening was quiet \u2013 I drank a little wine, watched a little TV, killed some monsters online. I went to bed alone and awoke to a quiet house.<\/p>\n Fortunately, my job that year involved meeting the radio and TV crews as we handed a needy family a check for $1,000 dollars. It kind of put everything in perspective. As I drove home, I thought back on what I had and didn\u2019t have; what I did and didn\u2019t need. I sat down and re-read the list I had made of what I wanted in a relationship. It was like knowing who is naughty or nice. My decision was easy.<\/p>\n Two days later he called me. \u201cHey Babe . . .\u201d<\/em> he began. <\/p>\n I stopped him, and thanked him for the present he gave me. He was very confused. \u201cI want to thank you \u2013 I was a little blinded at first, but I\u2019ve realized you are just not what I need.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAre you. . . \u201c<\/em>He stuttered. \u201cAre you breaking up with me?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n I thanked him again, and assured him that I was. He was dumbfounded.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll call you in a few days after you have thought this over,<\/em>\u201d he informed me.<\/p>\n Sliced bread, meet Dodger.<\/p>\n He did call, a few days before New Year\u2019s. I assured him I was starting the New Year as a free agent, and after he made sure I knew what I was doing a few times, he hung up.<\/p>\n I later found out that he had a date the next day, and that they did the same whirlwind courtship. In fact, he was a serial dater. I think he was an adrenalin junkie, in it for the rush, but not the long haul.<\/p>\n It would be nice to say that soon after breaking up with Dodger, I met the man of my dreams. I didn\u2019t. I did eventually meet someone that brought out some of the best in me, and lead me to the path where I am today. Had I not broken up with Dodger, I would have missed some amazing steps in my journey. Sometimes reality is a great present \u2013 and no one even had to wrap it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dodger and I had been dating about a month \u2013 we started the day after Thanksgiving. We had moved quickly \u2013 the adrenalin rush of a new crush that felt like champagne bubbles in your brain. I had met his parents, even slept each weekend in his parents\u2019 guest room (he was slightly old-fashioned, but…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[146,9,147,148],"class_list":["post-407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dating","tag-christmas","tag-dating-2","tag-presents","tag-reality-check"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2UnPK-6z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}