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(click the picture above for the high definition video - but also click YouTube for me!)

 

10:25 PM, Saturday, September 22nd, 2007:   This really is quite extraordinary...

 

  

Exactly 350 entries ago I posted an entry that broke my heart. Jessica and I had decided to go our seperate ways. That's what we knew 3 years ago. What we didn't know was actually the real story: how would this end? We both wanted lives for each other we simply couldn't provide... but divorce guaranteed nothing, it was just the first step.   What would follow was a very long, painful and emotional journey unto itself. Our paths were eerily similar literally mirroring each other for years at a time. All of that ends today, with the wedding of Jess & Jeff...exactly 350 entries later.

  

...and I am in NY missing it. :-( Really a judgement call on my part. I probably could've arranged two flights for Donna and I in between my two TV appearences - but that's just so risky. When a company flys you out and puts you up for 5 days - they need you on-call. Just my luck I get a call today to come in and meet with the new boss and I'm in Ohio. As much as it kills me to miss this moment for her, I just had to make this decision. And believe me, it wasn't lost on me for a second that I symbolically chose my career over her...AGAIN. (sigh) A little overdramatic of me, I know, but I tend to look at things romantically.

  

Tough not to with these past 3 years. In early 2005 we both went through intense feelings of wanting to get back together, only to be thwarted by...other married people? (sigh) Read the entries - lol. Then that summer we got involved in long-term relationships lasting about a year that seemed to frustrate the other to no end. It really wasn't anything personal against our significant others, but we were kind of saying "If they aren't 'the one'...than why are you risking it?". And by "risking it" what we really meant was, risking "our story". See, that was the whole point. We gave up a generally happy relationship, one many would die to have, so the other could be truly happy. But as I said before, seperating guaranteed nothing - only potential. It was up to us to complete the story we started the day we announced we were done.

 

Then, we both ended our "comfort" relationships within weeks of each other... and with even more incredible similarity started seeing Jeff and Donna within 2 weeks. I remember specifically calling Jess at the end of September last year to tell her about Donna, and having her tell me about Jeff. Both of us in tears because we could hear it in each other's voice. We knew. These were special people that we were clearly in love with. I was so happy for her... I could barely contain it. That was when I knew this was really going to be a happy ending. On paper, and to people who are too busy to understand the story, we may look like failures - but we sacrificed our comfort for longtime happiness for each other. It's a beautiful love story.

 

And of course 2007 brought two weddings and our stories really came to a fairy-tale end. We found two people that completed us in ways we wished we could've provided. For her, a life and family in Columbus with the support of her friends and entire family minutes away - and for me the ability to have a family and still pursue my dreams in the big city. It is simply our best dream of what could've happened and an ending I'm not sure we would've believed would turn out so beautifully 3 years ago.

 

 

Wow. 3 years. It's really hitting me. It's been 3 long years, filled with every emotion imaginable, but today - our story ends. Now it's time for stories of kids and the rest of our lives. I couldn't be happier for you. You will always be a jewel to me Jess, but I lovingly know you wholeheartedly belong to someone else. I'm so sorry I missed the start of your journey, but I'll be here for the rest of it...   ...just a few thousand miles west.   ;-)   Adam