Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Sunset Soon Forgotten


Have you ever seen those couples walking down the street and get sick to your stomach because of how annoying adorable they look together? Yeah well me too. Numerous times a couple has walked by me holding hands, whispering sweet nothings, and kissing after every word, and I feel the vomit start to rise in my throat. Why can't this be me? Honestly, do I have bad B.O. or a sign on my forehead that says STD?!!!?!?! Man, when life throws me lemons, I don't make any lemonade, but I pick up the strangely shaped fruit and throw it at the baby in the diaper with the bow and arrow.


The closest I have ever been to this feeling is when I met my best friend Leah. What a gem she is. Short bangs, braces, overalls, crooked glasses, and sponge sandals, one would think a gay man would never go near someone with the audacity to wear overalls, but I was drawn to her immediately.


Leah wasn't just any friend to me; she was the only one that truly got me. Coming from two very VERY different walks of life, we related on many different levels. Still do this day, I am finding different things I have in common with this guardian angel (if you only knew..:]).


She probably is the only person that can make me laugh, smile, cry, choke, dance, skip, hump, and lick with just one word. She’s a sister, a best friend, a hero.


Leah has gotten the shit end of the stick pretty much her whole life. I would think that losing my dog was the most traumatic thing to happen to me, just to find out Leah's brother was missing for 3 months, her father was in rehab...again, her mom ran away with an overweight pot head to Vernon, NY, and she lost her house in one of the many terrible floods that hit Greene. However, with all of these problems, Leah never was defeated. Surly she would break down and cry in my room numerous times, but she never allowed what was going on suffocate her. No matter how bad the storm was, or how big the waves, she would always seem to keep float.


I feel, and don't call me mushy or anything, that I love everything about this girl... I truly mean that.


Leah has been able to shoo away all of those annoying flies that have bothered her throughout the years, but it seems like one comes back, stronger and raring to fight... her father.


Marty Barden is a sorry excuse for a man. I take no sympathy on him and wish him nothing but the worst. One would think those are the worst things to say about a person, especially someone they barely know, but the thing is I don’t want to know him. I feel that being in the same room as him, or simply breathing the same air will make me so enraged I wouldn't be able to control myself. He single handedly has ruined Leah's life.


Always reaching out to her bipolar father, Leah would offer her love; a love you can't find and only wish you had, and would always find herself left outside in the cold. Numerous times she would call this man, write to him, and even drive to see him, and get no response. What a father. Mr. Barden never appreciated Leah and has uttered the three worst words in the world to his daughter "I hate you." He would use death as a play toy and dangle it in front of Leah's face. Telling Leah he was going to kill himself, hang up the phone fast and not call her back, leaving a little girl in tears hoping her father was still alive.


How do you call yourself a man? I may only be 19, and this maybe none of my business, but I have one thing to say to you Mr. Barden..Fuck you.


To you Leah is nothing but a sunset soon forgotten, but what you don't realize is that the buried treasure you have been looking for has always been right in front of your face. My parents have been more like parents to Leah than you will ever be and I hope you sleep every night regretting not getting to know this wonderful girl.


I just realized that I already have that thing those cute couples have. That thing that makes you smile. That thing that makes you cry. That thing that makes you you. I have Leah.


We may not be the "normal “couple because I just don't swing that way, but I that baby in the diaper struck me with his arrow the day I met Leah. So be jealous when you see us...puke a little in your mouth, but know were always going to be there right beside each other no matter what fruit life may throw at us.


I love you Leah.


That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

djm.

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