As I drove back to Spoonerville, I felt very sad that Charlotte wasn't with me anymore and yet another relationship had to end because my girlfriend had to move on with the next stage of life without me. It made me realize that I never had a relationship that lasted for even two years and it made me think I was never going to have one. It made me feel like I was being like British spy hero Special Bond or archaeologist hero Arizona Jones or superhero Captain Broccoli or many of my other awesome fictional heroes from my childhood. They would never settle down with one girl and keep moving onto the next one during their adventures. Two real-life examples, if I had to use one, would be Powerline and Deadly Beautiful. Even though they were married for seven years before they got divorced, they both dated and had children with other people before and after their marriage.
As I tried to get over my sadness by thinking about all the good times in my latest relationship with Charlotte, I tried to compare it to the relationships I had with Lola and Sasha. Now, before I tell you which one I meant to me at that time, I just want to say that all these three girls were very special and very unique in their own way and I still wouldn't have my college relationships with them any other way and being with them helped me become the person I am now today and I will always be very grateful to them for that.
This was my rankings of those three relationships at that moment in my life before I moved onto the next one. Starting at the bottom, I'm afraid I had to put Charlotte there. Because even though we liked each other very much and she was a good friend both before and after she became my girlfriend when she did and I was always grateful that she would come to every College X Games I did, whether I won or lost, and she was a very beautiful lady and we did have good times together with like all we had sex with each other (which she was amazing at every time we did it) and when we did the thanksgiving service for the poor and homeless at Spoonerville College on Thanksgiving Day and when we won the very first College Water Sports Competition and when we went on that lovely cruise to Greece with her parents which I will always be grateful with and she was my second longest college relationship, looking back, I don't think I connected with her that much. We didn't have that much interests. She didn't take drama lessons with me, unlike my other girlfriends, and I wasn't into fashion, ballet or cheerleading like she was, but I was very proud of all her accomplishment and I still am. She has managed to become one of the best ballet dancers New York has ever offered. She might not be a household name, not even in the ballet world, but she's making a hell of career with it. She was even teaching ballet dancers at how to be professional ballet dancers for the New York Ballet Company and if that's not talent or dedication, then I don't know what is. Also, she's very happy with her personal life with her wonderful, supportive husband Freddie, who's the finical manager of the New York Ballet Company, and her three wonderful girls, who have inherited their amazing mom's dancing skills.
The next relationship I had to put above Charlotte was Lola. Again, I enjoyed her company a lot and she was a very beautiful lady and I appreciated her coming to see me do every College X Games championship I did and I enjoyed doing West Side Story with her and I enjoyed being with her family and I'm still grateful that they invited me to join them on that Ibiza vacation and she was still my longest college relationship at that time, I still don't think I really connected with her that much a great deal either. We had a few similar interests like dancing and acting and the activities we did on that Ibiza vacation, but we had more different interests, like how she was into marine biology and all that stuff. But again, I'm very proud of all the excellent marine research she has done and continues to do so in Duckberg.
Then finally I had to put Sasha on top. Despite my relationship with me being the shortest, barely lasting for over half a year, I think she was the one I connected to the most, probably because of our mutual love for sports and how much she inspired me to be a coach and I did enjoy her company as much as she enjoyed mine, whether it was doing the sports or having the sex or helping the college with its thanksgiving service to the poor and homeless or doing Starlight Express together and I enjoyed celebrating not just a new year, but also a new century and a new millennium in December 1999 and January 2000 with her in Big Sky, Montana. I'm very proud of what she has achieved, especially with becoming the head of sports at her college in Peoria and how she continues to turn her athlete students into massive football, baseball, basketball, soccer, wrestling stars among the many sport majors she oversaw.
Like I said many times, my relationships with these special girls may be over, but I don't regret a moment with them and I still remain very good friends with them and I'm very proud of all the accomplishments they achieved in their lives.
It was early evening by the time I arrived at back at Spoonerville and back at home. As I had a lasagne dinner with my dad and Sylvia, I told them about my trip to New York and how I helped Charlotte and her family sort out her new apartment and how much I spent as much time as I could before I left this morning before I hit the bad traffic. Then I told her I was still very sad that I had to leave her and end my relationship and she had to move on to the next stage of my life and if I was doomed to never have find a true meaningful relationship. My dad and Sylvia told me how proud they were of me for going over to New York to help Charlotte and make the most of the relationship I had with her before saying goodbye to her and that I would find a girl who wanted to be in a relationship with me for more than just a year if I didn't give up.
Then I asked them how their New Year trip to Big Sky was and how Sylvia's family were doing. They both said that they had a very good time there and her family were doing great. They really missed seeing me that New Year's trip and I missed seeing them as well.
"Son, I got great news for you," my dad said.
"What is it, Dad?" I asked.
"You know Sylvia and I have been dating for more than two years?"
"You proposed?" I asked. I got my answer when Sylvia showed me her engagement ring.
"Your dad proposed to me on after the New Year's countdown, Max," she explained. "Isn't it beautiful?"
"It is. Very beautiful." I wasn't lying. It was a beautiful engagement ring.
"So, son, do we have your blessing?" my dad asked.
It took me a while to think about this as I wasn't expecting this yet, but I managed to say, "Yeah, you guys have my blessing. I'm very happy for the both of you."
They thanked me as they hugged me.
To be honest, I gave my dad and Sylvia my blessing when I did only because they made each other very happy. Deep down, it took a very long time to get used to the fact that Sylvia was going to be a part of my family. I knew her ever since my dad dated her and we were good friends and I like that she made my dad very happy as much as he did her, but, like I said, having new family members takes time for everyone and because I was twenty at the time and I had lived with just my dad ever since I could remember, I felt that I didn't need a stepmom. It was more for my dad's sake. And also I was a little bit upset that I had no girlfriend at that moment and my dad and Sylvia got engaged, so at that time, I didn't really happy at the moment, but I put on a front for their sake. I did manage to get used to Sylvia becoming a part of my family, but I'll explain all that in a few chapters later.