My thanks. I was young, and madly in love. Perhaps too much so for each of us. I hurt about it for many years, and many more events happened between us after that that were not positive, because of our daughter. She (the mother) spent the better part of these last eighteen years hating Me and doing anything within her power to do Me harm -and I mean that physically (with assistance from new 'friends') as well as mentally. I have never hated her, however. I became angered over her antics on more than one occasion, but never for long. Recently, I underwent a major health crisis, to the point where I was hospitalized and was looking at approximately 48 hours to live. The mother found out about it and rushed over to the hospital to be with Me. We spent the next couple of hours just talking, and I even brought her to tears on a couple of occasions -not due to any accusations, but simply by telling her the truth, at one point admitting that no matter what she said or what she did, I would always love her.
We parted promising to keep in touch with important matters, and to attempt to persuade our daughter to think about talking with Me again. She has not wanted to have anything to do with Me for over four years now.
Still, I am hopeful. With all these fellows posting here about happy and lengthy marriages for their experiences, there must be at least one decent woman out there that I can meet.