Dave comes home from Alaska after 6 months, there to me, a truck, and I had secured a place to live on Section 8, he comes here with 50 bucks on him. what exactly was he doing up there.

 always knew it'd be like this.  I see Julia Kiple from the dorms out walking in Iowa City when the kids and me were in the rental house, and I invite her in, she does not say, Cute kids, Sheri, she says,

Julianna just a baby, Lucy.  I may have said something about or asking about her being a single mom too, and Julia said, She's getting married, Sheri.

none of my college friends liked Dave.

well, I never asked Them for permission.

it's funny, now that I'm with Phil, my mom says Dave was a really nice.

that's not how she felt about him at the time.  she didn't like him either.

until one day when we were dating, I crying hard, probably over Will,

and he sat down with me and asked, Do you want to do a suicide pact?

I jumped up, dried my tears, totally snapped out of it.

I know he remembers that.

not sure why it was still bad in Kansas City, thought

about agreeing with him then, thought about taking

a whole bottle of aspirin, pretty sure I didn't, think

I poured them in the toilet but left the empty bottle out so he could see it.

sure hope I didn't take all those.

wasn't exactly trying to get pregnant, but we were inconsistent on birth control.

parents came to get me outta there after I told them the friend I was giving a ride

home from work was stabbed to death in his recliner.  I was doing good at that time,

had a decent cafeteria job, and weekends doing banquets, where I could finally get food, for free.

went to their house in Grand Mound,  ummm, yes, I am pregnant.

I tell Dave on the phone, he comes to their house sometime later,

not sure how he got there, but he shows up with a purple mohawk

that his friends there did while he was passed out.

I'm thinkin', not sure what I'm gonna do.

the final decision was, give birth.