Pay no attention to the fan holding the large popcorn box, and just this once, pay no attention to the adorable--er *ahem* veteran quarterback signing autographs. (Just this once.) Look at the guy in the dark blue shirt at the left edge of the picture.
I know that guy.
I'll call him Ken. I was stationed with him in Naples. Ken taught me how to play darts. Ken also taught me never to assume that a man understands that your relationship with him is not serious. To me, Ken was just a friend. To him, we were all but engaged.
I had other male friends besides Ken, lots of them. Mike was just one of the guys in the group I hung out with. I'm not sure I'd really even call us close friends--we were just friends. But I loved dancing with Mike. He was a fantastic dancer. He was not the only guy I danced with, but for some reason he was the one Ken singled out to be jealous of.
Now, keep in mind that Ken had no claim on me. We weren't engaged. We weren't even dating. We were just friends that ran in the same group of people. But at one point, Ken became so insanely jealous of Mike that he went and told Mike that if he didn't stay away from me, that when Mike's wife finally got her travel orders and came to Naples, Ken was going to tell her that Mike and I were having an affair.
We weren't, by the way. Yes, I danced with Mike sometimes, but I danced with other guys, too.
Well, when I found out, I was furious. I reassured Mike that no one would tell his wife anything, and I pretty much--well not pretty much, I completely--ended all association with Ken. He became, in my mind, nonexistent. I never spoke to him again. I never hung out with him again. I never played darts with him again. Until the day he transfered, just a few weeks later, I never forgave him.
And Ken? Well, he never understood what it was he'd done that was so wrong.
I should have thought it was obvious.
6 comments:
Wow. What a trip to see someone you know in a random picture. And someone with such a story in your life, to boot. I hope he's figured out some appropriate boundaries in his life by now.
And what luck that he's so easy to crop out of the photo to leave just the adorable Mr. Romo!! ;)
Way to go, Ken...learn some boundaries, would ya?
Sus, it was weird. I keep going back and looking at that picture, thinking that it has got to be him. It looks just like him, plus them being at a Naval Air Station... It must be him.
Amy, yep, boundaries are a good thing.
Wow, that story about Ken is simply incredible (not literally, of course... I believe you). It really pains me to know some of my brothers are so danged stupid. And that's exactly the word I mean to use, too. Not "ignorant," not "uninformed," just plain STUPID. I hope the dude grew up a bit since Naples.
Buck, I would hope so, too. What saddens me is that some young, impressionable woman will hook up with a guy like that, then think that all men are that way. There are good men out there, but they get a bum rap that they don't deserve because of stuff like this.
It's like Buck said, some men are incredibly stupid. It's amazing how high the stupidity quotient gets in fact.
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