We Found Each Other Again

I'd like to thank kenjisato, again, for the great editing and my friends for their input. If you find any mistakes, it's probably something I did after editing.

Active sexual activity only involves characters over the age of eighteen. Any similarities to persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. Names are made up.

WE FOUND EACH OTHER AGAIN

It is never too late to make things right.

I am John David Johnson, everyone calls me JJ. Let me introduce my family-- I have a sister, Patty who's an RN; my mom, Bethany Johnson, also an RN, she goes by Beth; my Dad, James Johnson, PhD, or Jim, and Dad won't let me call him 'Papa Doc'.

It was the start of another school year, and I was teaching elementary physical education. This was my fifth year out of college, teaching PE.

I had started out wanting to be a secondary math teacher, but my K-12 physical education second major was what got me hired. PE was fun to teach, especially in the lower grades, but I wouldn't insult other PE teachers because it was more than throwing out an inflated ball and wearing a straw hat to keep the sun off my face. But at times, it may have looked like that.

Most people do not see all the classes you have to take to be a PE teacher-- biology, anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, biomechanics, and the physiology of exercise, to name a few. I still yearned to teach math in maybe middle school or high school. I had taken enough classes to have a double major, and I loved math, but for the last five or so years, there was just not a single math position in my county or nearby cities. So, I decided to tread water (as a PE teacher) and take more courses in education administration to make myself more acceptable to a district.

The love of my life.

In college, Kate Jones was my girlfriend--more than just a girlfriend; we talked about our forever. Kate was an English major getting her bachelor's in secondary education.

Kate was from a very 'conservative' religious family. We kept our romance low key; oh, we made love 'occasionally', but we weren't horny kids, and being in college with roommates, we did not get many chances to actually 'make love'. Even without doing the ultimate sex act very often, we showed our love daily. We went for walks, watched movies, had dinner together, and went to church together. We visited each other's family's home-- very separate sleeping accommodations. When I visited Kate's family, I slept in the RV in the backyard. At my house, my mom put us in separate bedrooms, with my parents' room between our bedrooms.

Kate was my soulmate, we were making plans to get married! We would live happily ever after together. When we had only a month and a half before graduation, our relationship hit a peak. Kate's roommate went home for a weekend, and we had Kate's room to ourselves. Well, the pent-up love and lust overtook us, and we, to use the vernacular, 'fucked like bunnies'. We got so carried away that we (I) ran out of condoms. So we did it coitus interruptus or

pulling out

, which was about 78 to 80 percent effective at preventing pregnancy, 'if done right.'

Our love life took a hit.

Five and a half weeks later, we walked through graduation. We hugged at the end. Kate hugged me very tightly, and said, "Remember, I love you to the ends of the Earth and always will." She said it with tears in her eyes, but her tone sounded odd.

I heard her father call her in a rather authoritarian voice; Kate turned, got in the family car, and was gone without a single look back.

After my graduation party, I called Kate, and what I heard was, "This number has been disconnected."

I figured she and her family would be home within an hour or so; I waited. When I called, I got the surprise of my life.

Her father answered, and told me, "Kate does not want to see you again, so please do not ever call her again, and if you come here, we will have you arrested for harassment. Goodbye." ***CLICK***

When I was able to hang up, I was in shock. I screamed, "NO!"

Mom, Dad, and Patty came running. If it hadn't been for Mom, I might have jumped out my second-floor window. I repeated what Kate's father said, and both Mom and Patty hugged me tightly. Dad was cursing. Dad had been in the Navy before he became a math professor, so he could hold his own when it came to cussing.

Like Mom, Patty was a nurse, so she was able to get a doctor friend to stop by, and about two hours later, I was in a sedative-induced sleep.

Mom and Patty took turns sleeping in the chair in my room.

A couple of days later, my best friend, Bill, almost got arrested trying to drop off a letter for me. Kate's dad did call the cops, and Bill told the cop that he did not know of my ban, and the cop let him go. Next came a certified letter to me-- it was from Kate's family lawyer. It spelled out that if I even took a breath of air on their street, the full legal system would come "crashing down on my head!"

I had an engagement ring on my dresser. Patty knew of it and hid it.

I was suffering from depression at its worst! It was like a grocery list,

For the next three weeks:

I was persistently sad....√ check!

I did not leave my room....√ check!

I lost my appetite...√ check!

I lost weight...√ check!

I felt apprehensive and "empty" inside....√ check!

I lay in bed with feelings of hopelessness....√ check!

I was annoyed and impatient with everyone....√ check!

I was frustrated with my family, and in my mind, they just didn't care....√ check!

At times, I went outside and chopped wood, not into kindling, but pieces no bigger than toothpicks!...√ check!

I WAS A FUCKING MESS! √ √ check, check!

This worried my mom and sister. Mom and Patty convinced Dad to use the mental care part of the health insurance, as I was still on his insurance until I turned twenty-two in five months. I saw a shrink, a Dr. Joyce. Dr. Joyce convinced the family that I should be put in a psychiatric facility for a short time, forty-five days, since I had been hit so hard by losing Kate.

While I was there, I came to grips that Kate and I were through for whatever reason. The doctor and my family just called it 'summer camp'. I basically had Kate counseled out of my brain...

Or, so I thought.

After my time in the facility, Bill told me I had changed. I was not as happy-go-lucky as I was... but at least I was sane.

I had missed two months of job hunting. That should explain why I was a PE teacher, instead of a math teacher. I got a job in a town that was halfway between my town and Kate's; it just happened that was where the job was, not planned at all. I took the job, well, because I needed to work, make money, and pay for things like insurance, food, housing, and student loans.

New teacher.

During the new-teacher orientation, I felt like a piece of meat. I was young and reasonably good looking (if you count what Mom and Patty say), there were almost a half-dozen young female teachers, and every time I looked at them, it looked like they were licking their lips. I was in no mood for women. I was sane, but still hurting inside.

After six-and-a-half months of teaching, I heard a rumor that people thought I was gay, so I went to a couple of school functions with a female date, a good friend of my sister-- the rumor died a happy death. I found out I was also the recipient of lustful gossip. There were a few single mothers and a couple of cougars in the parent pool. It took about two years for the women to realize I was just not interested in hooking up with fellow teachers, or the few mothers who seemed available.

I plunged into the school functions and made myself 'a vital part of the school machine'. After-school clubs, grade-level parties, Fun Fair, Halloween party, Christmas party, New Year's party, read-a-book party, cherry pie party (Washington's birthday), spring scavenger hunt (Easter egg hunt), April Fools' party-- you name it, I volunteered for it; I got myself closer to my students, it kept me from being alone.

New school.

After three years, I found another teaching position in my hometown, so I moved back to Mom and Dad's neighborhood. I settled in, and after one year, a new school year was upon me.

Here it was, the start of my fifth year teaching; I had finished my master's in education, and living the life of a monk gave me the time to take classes and study. I had started my doctoral program.

I got my class list and cross-referenced the names to the school's picture set. Except for kindergarteners, I had pictures of all of my students. The kids enjoyed it when I could use their names while talking to them on the first day. It did take me some time studying to do it. With kindergarteners, I just studied the names, I would make teams up and take a picture so I could have a first name and a picture, and then have pictures of the teams to post.

One kindergartener's name popped out at me for a second-- Johnny Jones. I thought JJ would be a cute nickname, as that had been my nickname as a kid.

Because I was just trying to remember names, I kept going through my lists.

Kindergarten PE.

On the first day, the kindergarten class was wide-eyed and subdued; it was probably the last time I'd see them that way. To make it easy, I let the primary students just call me 'coach'. It was easy for them.

For a beginning activity, I got out the multicolored parachute; this was always a fun activity. You put the kids around it, with each kid getting a color. And I had the kids shaking the parachute, giving their arms a good workout. I will call out "up," and the kids would have to raise the parachute over their head, it would 'catch air' and fill and stay 'inflated'. I would call a color, and all the kids holding that color on the parachute would have to run in the middle. While the parachute was up in the air, I'd call, "Out," and if the parachute deflated and touched any kids, they had to run around the parachute one time. It was a good activity with lots of cardio in the running underneath, then running around. I'd add a playground ball; if they let the ball fall off the parachute, the two students where it fell off would have to do some silly thing-- hop on two feet, hop on one foot, roll on the floor one time, sit under the parachute 'til the ball fell off again.

Sometimes, I played a quiet game in two circles, while sitting they'd roll a ball to someone on the circle as fast as they could; if you made a noise, you had to run around the circle. Have you ever tried to keep kindergarteners from making noise?

The Friday night before Labor Day was 'Back-to-school night'. I had my kindergarteners demonstrate how we played with the parachute. The first group did great; the last group was a little tired since they had been in the classrooms with parents and teachers. JJ was in this group during the parachute activity. While running around the parachute, JJ fell at my feet. His pride was hurt the most because he had told his mom how he was the 'bestest' player, and then he fell at the feet of his favorite teacher, me.

I scooped him up and gave him 'manly' comfort, "Hey, JJ, that was a great trick! You made it look like you fell by accident! Show me how to do a front roll."

JJ disengaged from my arms and did a cute five-year-old roll with a "Ta-da," and arms raised to finish. It was then I felt a hand on my arm.

"John?"

I had heard that voice a thousand times before. I turned, and it was Kate Jones, the one and only.

So much went through my mind-- do I just say hello? shake her hand? hug her? politely say hello Miss Jones?... I did not have time to think.

Kate hugged me. It was more than a hello-how-do-you-do-kind-of hug. She said into my ear, "I have so much to talk to you about."

Since it was the end of the night, I started to put away the equipment my students had used throughout the night.

JJ said, "Coach, let me help you." You'd think I had given JJ a gold medal, he strutted around putting away all the equipment.

As I worked, I felt a little anger start to bubble inside me-- here was the woman that broke my heart and put me in a fucking psychiatric facility for forty-five days!

Just then, Kate's mother, Rose, almost running, came up to me and hugged the hell out of me. She was there to watch JJ.

When we disengaged, I looked around with a little worry, and asked, "Where is Mr. Jones?"

Mrs. Jones said, "Dead three years! and I divorced him four years ago!"

Losing all formality, Rose asked, "Are you still single?"

Almost before I finished saying, "Yes," she said, "Well, John, you are coming over to our house TONIGHT! For coffee, and I won't take no for an answer! We moved here after the divorce." She gave me a piece of paper, she had printed their address and phone number on it. (It was like she had planned it ahead of time).

Just then, my sister Patty showed up. She had tried to get there before the end, but of course, nurses had to work whenever there was an emergency.

Kate returned from wrangling JJ, and said to Patty, "Hi Patty, I have missed you." If looks could kill, Kate would be dead.

Rose grabbed Patty's hand and said, "We need to talk, and I do mean NEED! Please come over to our house, there is so much that needs to be discussed!"

Patty looked at me, and I said, "We've both had our shots."

I felt bad because as soon as I said it, Kate started to cry.

In thirty minutes, we were sitting at Rose's kitchen table. JJ asked me if I wanted to see his room, and he took my hand and led me to his room. When we entered his room, JJ grabbed a tote with about a million Legos in it, and said, "Want to invent some Lego stuff?"

JJ and I must have spent what seemed like an hour with the wonders of Legos. When JJ let go a yawn, I said, "We need to clean up." JJ sleepwalked, picking up Legos.

He said, "Coach, I need to put on PJs, but would you read me a story?"

"Sure," This WAS the highest form of trust and honor from a five-year-old.

I read an Aesop's fable, 'The Lion and the Mouse'. I remembered it from my days of having stories read to me. As I finished, I could hear a five-year-old snoring.

I walked into the kitchen, and all three women were crying big-ass tears.

Kate said, "Please come with me." We walked into the den. Kate had me sit down in a nice recliner, and she pulled an ottoman over so she could sit close.

"John, please just listen to me before you say anything."

I quietly nodded.

"First, John, I love you."

I was about to say some smart-ass remark, but Kate put up one finger to quiet me.

"Second, which maybe really is the first thing I should have said, Johnny is your son. When I told my father I was pregnant, he blew up, and since he 'held all the cards'-- money, where I lived, paying my school loan, etc. He decreed that I must never see you again, and he kept me emotionally locked up; I had no job, I had no money. He wanted me to ABORT JJ! You know, the great religious man, my father. He told me you had left town. I found out tonight you were in a psychiatric facility. I could not get a hold of you. Dad kept feeding me lies about you leaving the state and finding a new love. MOM almost put me in a psychiatric facility also!

"After I had Johnny, I heard my father brag to his cronies about how he ruled the family and how he got rid of you. When I told Mom, she exploded! She went out and got the meanest bitch-of-a-women's-liberation lawyer she could, and had him kicked out of the house. Her lawyer got experts to testify to the emotional damage that my 'loving' father had done to Mom, JJ, and me.

"To top it off, my mom and my father had a prenup; he had an infidelity clause put in it, thinking she would cheat on him. The lawyer's private investigator found a woman with whom he was having an over-six-year affair, in a town where he would go for business. Mom took him to the cleaners. She got the house, alimony, and a lot of his retirement.

"He threatened both Mom and me in court, and the judge held him over for criminal charges. They, then, later found him guilty of attempted domestic violence. It got plea-bargained down to one year of weekends in jail, imagine that. But he had to cash in his retirement account to pay the fines and mom's alimony. Mom sold the house, and we moved here. Part of the divorce was that he had to have life insurance payable to mom, and well, three years ago, his mean old heart stopped working while he was at his girlfriend's house in bed! Mom is fixed for life. She keeps from using her money by working in one of the district's middle school cafeterias, in our district! I am now a permanent sub for the district, substituting every day in the district, I just haven't been called to your school yet.

"John, I have loved you since I met you back in freshman year in college."

With fear in her voice, she asked, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No, I have had friends who are girls, but no romance if that is what you are asking. My sister has had friends accompany me whenever I needed a plus-one for something."

With a familiar twinkle in her eyes, she said, "I'd love to be your plus-one if you ever need one."

It then dawned on me... like I just woke up... I asked, "Did you say JJ is my son?!"

"Yes, John, I have had his DNA on file at a local lab; if you want to, you can drop by and give a cheek swab... Please, John, I do want you to do it."

"This is unsettling and disorientating. Please give me time to mentally digest this... Holy shit!"

Patty came into the room, and declared, "John, it is time to go!"

Luckily, we had the next day off, well, the next three days off.

Patty said, "WE need to go see Mom and Dad... no matter how late it is. They will want to know they are grandparents!"

Patty called ahead, and Mom and Dad met us at the kitchen table with coffee and pastries.

Patty made the announcement, "You are grandparents!"

Mom shouted, "WHAT!?"

Dad shouted, "WHAT THE HELL!?"

Patty then, with full orchestration, gave Mom, Dad, and me the full story of Kate's life after graduation. (I didn't have the whole story yet) Mom started to cry, and Dad just muttered, "How do you like that, I am a grandpa!"

Almost together, Mom and Dad said, "What are you going to do? When do we get to see our grandson?"

I called Kate the next day. "We need help with this. I had thought I was over you, and maybe you were over me. Would you go to counseling with me?"

Kate, in words that I had wanted to hear from the first time I ever saw her, said, "John, I will go anywhere and everywhere with you and for you."

On Monday, Kate accompanied me to the lab. When we got the results, it showed that JJ and I share 48.5 percent of our DNA, which was about as high a percentage for a father and son could have, which meant that I WAS JOHNNY'S FATHER!

Counseling.

Dr. Joyce's colleague, Dr. Sally, PsyD took us on.

She started meeting with us the next week. She made a schedule-- I would meet with her on Monday; then with Kate on Tuesday; Wednesday she met with Johnny by himself; Thursday with both of us, Friday was with Kate, Johnny, and me. It was covered by both our medical insurance and a special district grant for mental care for employees, so we could afford it. Occasionally, one of our moms was invited at no charge. And I still had time for doctoral classes!

The first appointments for both of us involved a big supply of tissues. I am not ashamed; I cried at my sessions. Jokingly, Dr. Sally said she had Kleenex in her stock portfolio. After five weeks, Dr. Sally asked us if we wanted to go out on a date.

Dr. Sally set it up, and arranged for both grandmas to babysit Johnny together. She gave us rules-- Hand holding was okay; hugging for no longer than twenty-one seconds; no open-mouth kissing; no parking in secret places... the list went on. Dr. Sally was like an overprotective dad of a teenage girl. The following Monday and Tuesday, we critiqued the date in our appointments. It seemed we both were waiting for the other shoe to drop. Before the date week, when we met together, we sat apart as if we were scared to share the air in the room. After the date, Dr. Sally placed our chairs together, facing each other almost as if tied together.