At this point, it’s early 2015 and I’m back with Fighter Pilot Dude.
Well… long-distance back with Fighter Pilot Dude. Let’s not get carried away.
He was still training in Virginia, so we did the long-distance relationship thing—meeting halfway at little bed-and-breakfasts or taking turns traveling to see each other. When he came to see me, he’d also spend time with his kids.
And inevitably, drama would try clock in for its shift.
His soon-to-be ex seemed determined to gather any little nugget of information she could potentially use in the divorce, custody discussions, or just because apparently everyone needed a hobby.
One afternoon, my girls and I went bowling with Fighter Pilot Dude and his kids. Afterward, we went back to the house where he was staying. Everyone was talking, laughing and having a perfectly normal afternoon.
Obviously, this could not continue.
His daughter went upstairs to take a call from her mother.
Not long after, Fighter Pilot Dude’s phone rang.
It was the STB-ex, furious that he was “subjecting their children to strangers” and insisting that she should meet anyone before the kids were introduced to them.
Strangers.
We had gone bowling.
We weren’t recruiting them into a traveling circus.
What fascinated me wasn’t even the phone call. It was watching this incredibly capable man immediately begin second-guessing himself.
This man could fly a fighter jet.
A multimillion-dollar military aircraft.
At ridiculous speeds.
But one angry phone call from his soon-to-be ex and suddenly he needed clearance from the tower to go bowling.
And this was only the beginning.
She quickly figured out that the kids could be very useful sources of information. Their daughter seemed more than willing to participate. Their son? Not nearly as interested in joining the family intelligence operation.
Unfortunately, Fighter Pilot Dude never seemed to recognize the game—or, if he did, he had absolutely no idea how to play it.
The kids were about to get one hell of an education in chess.
And Fighter Pilot Dude?
That man was still trying to figure out where the board was.
Until next time…xoxo
Tracy
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