As you have seen, it has been a long and winding road to get to 54 years of life. This story is a love life. A life where I have loved and lost women. Women are my favorite things: warmer and softer than teddy bears and my Rocks of Gibraltar. There are many other things to my life also--many experiences that I have not outlined, many job experiences that are not included. But it seems that a lot of readers want to know who a person is and I believe it should be what a person feels. Jobs, work and things are not as important as family, God, and life.

On August 30th, 1983, I had one of those experiences that I would not care to experience again. I was going to my job at the time as a private investigator and stopped by a local convenience store to purchase a drink as I went to work. I stepped out of my car and headed towards the front door; as I did I encountered a raised jagged portion of the sidewalk with either the heel or the toe of my boots. I was slung forward and destroyed my left leg in the fall. My major femur bone was broken into five pieces.

The attendant of the store just looked at me on the pavement and went about his business. In agony, I raised myself up and got somehow into the car and drove three miles to my in- laws' home and honked on the horn until someone came out. I was taken to a hospital and waited 14 hours before being seen. I was scheduled for surgery immediately and repairs were made with metal screws and plates. They said it was the worst break for a fall that minor ever seen by the staff. To make a long story short, I was disabled by the accident due to poor surgical techniques when the bone didn't heal for 10 years and three operations later. It left me with a limp and one leg shorter than the other. This, along with five operations on stomach hernias due to other poor surgical techniques following a bout with appendicitis, have hindered me with medical problems. High blood pressure, emphysema from smoking, and other health concerns plague my middle age. But I feel healthy, am lonely but looking forward to the last half of my life. I am busy and active and enjoy all the things I did when I was young except the more physical ones.

I have been graced with three wonderful daughters: Kristina, Dena and Dawn. Kristina is married and has a 4 years old son; Dena and Dawn live with me. They are a joy to me and company and companionship when I am low. Dawn has a love of music and theater in her high school activities. Dena has a love of children in her jobs as a day care worker. Kristina is happy in her marriage and is expecting another grandson for me in November. These are the women in my life.

So how to I see my life in the remainder? I hope and pray to find another love in my life. I am looking for a woman who is sensitive and caring, one who knows how to use alcohol if she uses even at all, one who enjoys life and likes to live it fully. I am not "over the Hill" and don't expect her to be, either. Similar interests would be a plus but I am open to many things. I'm not particular if she is thin or plump; short or tall, blonde or brunette, big or large chest; etc.,. only that she will accept the love that I have to offer. That if she is divorced is no consequence only to the extent that she has profited from her life's experience and doesn't want to repeat those things that created problems in the past and accept me as another person, not the one she previously married. I hear so often today that men are characterized as controlling and dominating their women to death, that the reason so many marriages break up is because one or the other tries to change the other. One should accept the quirks of the other if they are to be partners. The primary thing to a good marriage is to be a friend to the other. Honesty and communication is a marriage as in a partnership is an absolute must. No surprises, hidden. If one partner asks a question of another, to be truly happy, no secrets should be hidden--whether they be sexual or emotional, financial or informational.

I want a woman who will be sad if I am gone for a weekend at a church retreat and happy to see me at night when I get home. I want her to have a nice smile and use it. Is this too much to ask? I think not. Lastly, I need a woman who cares about family; hers and mine, church and God, and the well-being of man, for together we will champion causes to improve our lives on this clay and granite planet. I hope I find her. THE BEGINNING.

Since this was written in the Summer of 1997 there has been changes in my life but still no resolutions in finding a soul-mate. I have loved two women but both have gone back to their previous single life....the search goes on........