Chapter 3: Marriage & Careers

I was bursting with love and pride. Beth was finally my wife, and she’s all I ever wanted and more. We spent our first night as man and wife in our cheap little one-bedroom apartment and made love for the first time. We were inexperienced, but not naïve. We read about, talked about, and fantasied together for years about the physical love we would show each other. Our plans for that first time were carefully and completely planned and our anticipation grew to its boiling point, which meant holding back was like trying to stop a train. The pleasure, bonding, and sensations we felt after 16 years of foreplay created a night of unimaginable joy. We were both overwhelmed by how our love grew immeasurably in that ultimate bonding. When the first coupling ended in perfect harmony, we were both reduced to tears by the beauty of the experience and our love for each other.

I guess you’d say we liked it. We liked it a lot. We liked it six more times that night.

The next morning, with bodies and specific parts rather sore, we awoke to plan our honeymoon. That’s right—the honeymoon was not planned until the day after the wedding because we had to see how much money we received in wedding gifts to know where we could go. We decided on the Outer Banks since it was cheaper during the offseason, and we were only interested in seeing one thing—each other: naked.

Now that we had graduated high school and were married, we had our future mapped out. I went to work for my family business, Freed & Sons Builders. Our family business bought large properties and built entire communities with middle to upper-middle-class homes. I started taking night courses for architecture while working during the day.

Beth was attending the local community college to study marketing. It was only a few miles away, so she could commute.

Two-and-a-half years later I was doing well in the family business, and Beth received her Associate’s degree in Marketing Communication. She went to work as a marketing assistant for a local company that made instrumentation for the water and wastewater treatment markets—Coulton Industries.

We were still young and, although we desperately wanted children, we planned to wait until we were in our mid to late twenties. Life was good. Making love was fantastic and frequent. Plans were made for the future. Beth and I were unbelievably happy.

As our marriage grew, I questioned every day whether I was worthy of her love, but I never questioned that she eagerly gave it to me. And I gave her every ounce of love and devotion I could find.