So here is another story that illustrates my former marriage. An old girl friend of mine, who we'll call "Pumpkin" whom I dated in the early 90's, called me once around 2005 when Boo and I were living together, to tell me that her beloved African Grey parrot, Eddie, had suddenly taken sick and died. Now, there are several reasons why she called me, for example, when Pumpkin and I met, I was the parrot-person, having had a Red Crowned conure for several years at that time. Pumpkin actually enjoyed seeing my relationship w/ my bird so much that she acquired one, and then another, herself. She was (and still is) a good parrot mom. Also, Pumpkin also knew that around 2000, my baby bird had come down with liver cancer, and died quite suddenly, so she knew that I knew how it felt to lose a beloved bird to a sudden illness. But none of this mattered a wit to Boo, she merely assumed that my talking to an old girlfriend meant that somehow, somewhere, I was fucking this old friend who lives in another STATE, for God's sake. Also, I did commit the cardinal sin of closing the office door when talking to Pumpkin about her parrot's passing. So of course, I was doing something wrong. In fact, I had done this, as I later tried to explain to Boo while she was screaming at me for talking to this person, because I just did not want Boo to see me cry, as I knew probably would (and in fact, I did cry with my old friend about her loss). Perhaps this selfish, or just a guy thing, but i don't like people to see me cry. But no, because of Boo's insane, irrational jealousy, I had to be doing something wrong to close the door. I remember I got very angry at Boo, and stayed so for a while, but it was no use. She was just so fucking crazy that I was not allowed to talk to any of my old friends, especially females. Of course, the same rules did not apply to Boo, she was free to talk to old boyfriends and husbands, both those she had fucked for years and those that were still only interested in fucking her, but hadn't yet (a la Ron Rakow). But of course that was perfectly innocent, after all, they were HER friends, who are inherently good people, not MY friends, who were essentially Satan. In fact, once she actually went to visit her old husband "A Gordin", because she knew he was fleeing the country to Brazil to avoid extradition/prosecution, ostensibly just to pick up some old pictures. I offered to drive her down to East LA, but she insisted that no, he Ex would never give her the pictures if I came along. Now I know she left, and returned, to this criminal at least three times before he finally kicked her out, so I suppose she was probably trying to fuck her way back into his money again, but I trusted her. In hindsight, perhaps I was the fool. The double standard that she carried must have weighed heavily on her soul. But she carried it nonetheless.
Turns out, my old friend Pumpkin is recently a single mother, and had to give up her new African Grey, because she could not handle the load. So the first person Pumpkin calls is me, asking would I like to adopt Simon (the bird, not the baby), since she knows I am a conscientious and loving bird-Dad. Sadly, with the money, time and effort that my crazy Boo is costing me in this divorce, I could not rescue Simon from up in Oregon. But he went back to his breeder, so I know he got a good home. When Pumpkin asked me about the time she called about Eddie (RIP), she asked, did it seem like a red flag that you wife-to-be was so insanely jealous? I said yes, it was one of many, but apparently love is blind (as well as stupid) and I did not read the signs. Lesson of the day - listen to your heart, when it tells you someone is acting like a total nut-case. And for the love for God, don't marry them!
