Just Add Mint

Here is an example of a love story that someone thought no one else would be much interested in. But, I can’t imagine anyone not finding this touching; if for no other reason, than to remind us of the hope we all should have. Debbie Crothers shares her amazing rough and beautiful beads and her once rough and now beautiful love story. And when you’re done brushing the tears from your eyes, go see what other luscious things this polymer explorer has been up to on her Flickr photostream.

Just Add Mint

I was 30 years old and had just come out of a terrible relationship.  Two and a half years of my life had been invested, and I was planning on marrying this man.  It certainly wasn’t the world’s best relationship.  He could be so charming when he wanted to be.  I think I held onto those moments and tried to forget all the bad times.  Huge mistake.  Two years into the relationship, I found out he turned to heroin – what!!!; how could I not have seen that; how on earth could I not know?  Believe me, I had no idea.  He was the world’s best liar and manipulator, and you know what – it was apparently, all my fault!!!  We tried to get help; we tried to fix things; we tried to make our relationship work, but there was no way it was going to.  He left town, and I was left to deal with the financial mess, the “drug people” who came looking for him and the thought that I must be a horrible person to make someone turn to drugs.  My life was shattered, and I was an emotional wreck.  The nightmares started, the stress started and the depression began.  Life was hard, but I had to keep going.

The story moves on to about six months later; still nightmares, still financial stress and definitely not looking for a partner.  I was having drinks with my sister and some friends.  Her boyfriend, Colin, had been trying to match-make me with his best mate, “Mint”, in Perth, but I sure as hell wasn’t ready to get involved with anyone – or so I thought.  Anyway the phone rang.  Colin answered it, spoke for a while, then handed the phone to me and said “Deb, there’s someone here who wants to talk to you.”  I took the phone and said “hello.” A beautiful, calm voice came on the other end and said “Hi, just wondering if you’d like to marry me?”  I was a little surprised, but stayed calm and said “sure, where shall we have our honeymoon?” To be honest, the rest of the conversation is a bit of a blur now (well, it was a long time ago), but all I remember is this beautiful voice that filled me with a sense of calm and made me feel safe.  Crazy, I know, because I didn’t even know the guy – had never even seen him before.

I wanted to meet him, and he wanted to meet me, so he arranged to come to Geraldton in a few weeks time.  We decided to have drinks again at Colin’s unit while waiting for Mint to arrive.  I remember when he walked through the door – I can still picture it now.  He said his hello’s to everyone, and then came over to me.  He smiled at me and shook my hand, and it was a moment I’ll never forget.  I was excited and nervous all at the same time.  I knew this was a good man, and I loved the way he made me feel.  We all spent the night talking and laughing, and then when everyone else had gone to bed or gone home, we still sat and talked – it was like we had known each other forever.  We met up again the next night, and that’s when we decided to have children together. We even chose the name of our first son – Red.

That was December; we moved in together the following July, got married in September and had our first son, Red, in February.

20 years on, we now have 3 beautiful children and a wonderful life together, and I still get excited every afternoon when he comes home to me.

He is my love story.

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