It amazes me how much things can change in a very short time.
I've been away from my woman for over 15 days and this has given me some time to reflect on all the things we've been through together in the past year.
Looking back at all this, it is hard to believe it's real. I knew Toni Bones from Facebook since 2012 or 2013, but never had a conversation with her. I just followed her work and activism through her posts.
I finally met her for the first time in real life in May of 2017. Unfortunately it was a very dark time in her life, but I promised to help her where I could.
Even though I really didn't know her, I believed in her. I had never seen her waiver or deviate one bit from who she claimed to be in her online presence. Despite mountains of hate, verbal assaults against her, threats, and ridicule that persisted for years, she never wavered from her principles. There was something that was real about her and because of that I knew that she was someone that I wanted to help as much as I was able.
She came to live with us in May of 2017 and we all became good friends.
My wife and I had marital problems on and off throughout our 10 year marriage. I can't speak for her, but I think I stayed in it because I always thought it could be something better or different than it was. She and Toni got along wonderfully. In fact, my wife seemed to prefer being with her than with me.
In July, my wife decided to file for divorce after assaulting me when she was in a drunken rage. Because of the assault, the court put a restraining order against her so she could not be in the house. This wasn't the first time she had assaulted me, it was the 4th, and she had threatened divorce many times before. But this was the first time I was at peace with the idea. For the first time, I knew that divorce was really the best thing for us - it took a while for me to fully accept the idea, but I knew it was best. The main difference was Toni.
Since the house did not belong to me, I was having to get what I could packed up and find a new place to live. Toni was not sure what to do. I tried to assure her that I had promised her a place to live and I was going to keep my promise.
We managed to get her daughter back and settled in a temporary home near Houston, TX thanks to the generosity of some good friends, on the way to our new home, we learned that we were expecting a child.
We had a great time in Houston, and we miss it. We are hoping that we will be able to go back and visit often.
Our friends there are absolute lifesavers and completely invaluable. We owe them a lot - a lot of money, but so much more other than that as well.
Despite being relatively busy with my business, financially we were struggling. I tried to find steady work in Texas, but I just couldn't seem to find anything.
Finally in April, Dahlia Lynn Bones was born and Indica finally had a baby sister which she absolutely adores. The pregnancy was very difficult for Toni. She had morning sickness 24 hours a day throughout the entire pregnancy.
It's been a rough year for both of despite all the good things that have happened. Dahlia is growing perfectly and has developed quite a happy and cheerful personality. She will be 4 months old at the end of this week. I will be uploading videos of her to my d.Tube channel.
After a few job offers that fell through, one in Denver, one in Texas, and one in Arizona, I finally landed a great job in Southern California - a place that I swore I'd never return to. But being back in so. cal after being gone for almost 25 years isn't as terrible as I'd thought it would be. In fact, I am learning to like it.
Toni has brought me more happiness than I ever thought possible. While we both have some very difficult times that we are currently going through and even more lying ahead of us, I'm excited and optimistic for our future together. I know that we will be able to restore our families and make everything whole.