Lynne had to fight for life when she was born. The doctor induced her so that he would not be disturbed during the night. It worked but caused a lifetime of hell for Lynne and her mother. Lynne spent the first 8 months of her life in an iron lung due to acute bronchial asthma. For the next few years until she was 5 she had an oxygen tank with her at all times. As the years went by the asthma lessened but would flair up to cause a hospital stay about 3 times a year.

She was the baby of four children. Her father was going to school to get his phd's in math and science. Her mother ran a daycare at her house for the students on campus with children. Lynne's 2 brothers and sister were in school so she was lent out to the child developement part of the college. she got to play with alot of toys while students took notes. When her dad graduated the family moved to Houston, Texas where he was a professor at U of H.

Lynne was nine when they got their first TV.

Lynne found the first wrestling show she watched on a Saturday. She loved to watch Bull Curry. She wondered how he could be married with so much hair on his face. Gorgeous George was too pretty and El Toro was huge. The midgets were funny and talented and the women were awesome.

Lynne's life became hell on earth when her parents divorced when she was 14. Her dad remarried within 2 days of the divorce being final. Her oldest brother enlisted in the army and within 6 weeks was on his way to to Vietnam. Her next brother got a girl in trouble and married her. Lynne's sister graduated school early so she could move out which she did 3 months later. Her mom had a total mental breakdown and Lynne was the only one home. She had to bathe, feed and see to her mom's needs. No one would help her. They didn't have the patience or strength to help.

Her mom came out of it after 2 years. Her mom got a job and the trail of men that looked more at her than her mother began. Lynne was 17 and had a dynamite body (38d,24,36). She was also only 5' tall with long blonde hair. Only one of the men had been successful in their attempts to have her affections and she was no longer a virgin. It really wasn't rape but the act was not her idea.

Lynne dropped out of school when she 18 because she just could not deal with everything in her life. she continued to watch wrestling when she found it on the tv.

Lynne's best friend went off to Uvalde college and was attacked by her room mate because she had walked in on a drug deal. They shot her up with every drug they had including ludes, acid, lsd and heroin. She should have died but she didn't. Now Lynne had another person to take care of.

In June of 1972 she met her first love and now husband of 26 years. At first site they fell in love. He was 5'7", blonde and wore Buddy Holly glasses. He had acne so bad even though he was about to be 21. It was a blind date. On groundhog day, 2/2/73, they got married and in August welcomed the birth of the first of 3 sons. This person she didn't mind taking care of.

Her husband, Steve started drinking more and more. Even though he was 22 now, he was still very immature. He asked Lynne to be his drinking buddy but she wanted no part of it. Beer made her sick as he found out all over the inside of the car. It took forever to get the smell out. Wine gave her a headache and mixed drinks had the same effect as the beer. He found his drinking buddy in his best friend until he couldn't take it anymore. Then he moved on to his union buddies after the meetings on Thursday nights. Oh, how Lynne hated Thursdays! When he showed up home at 2 and 3 in the morning the smell of beer came in the house first. When their 2nd son was born he stopped drinking for a while but after 3 months started up again and got worse. Lynne's 2 sons were the only things keeping her sane.

Although Lynne was still madly in love with Steve sometimes the sight of him falling into the house at all hours made her hate him. She kept getting pregnant but due to the emotional turmoil and his drinking she miscarried all but 2 in her first trimester almost into her 2nd. The last 2 happened when she was barely in her 3d trimester. in 12 years she had had 6 miscarriages. No one in both families could stand Steve's drinking so Lynne was left once again to take care of herself. The only fun she had was watching wrestling when she could find it and watching her 2 remarkable boys grow up. To this day they don't drink.

Due to Cyndi Lauper boosting the wrestling to being on TV more, Lynne started watching all the time. Because of a miracle Lynne gave birth to a third boy. She was restricted to complete bed rest. When her mother died the year before she must have put in a good word.

Eventually, Lynne noticed a wrestler that was phenomenal. His character was called The Undertaker. With Lynne's love of horror movies he quickly became her favorite.

By the time of the birth of their 3d son, Steve had 2 DWI's (Driving While Intoxicated) and several PI's (Public Intoxication). The last DWI almost killed him. Lynne took him by to see his truck after she bailed him out of jail. The sight of the truck made him dry himself out and now 10 years later he has not taken another drink.

Now that Steve didn't have alcohol to keep him company he threw himself into work and school. Have you heard the saying, "the cure is worse than the curse"? Well it's true. Lynne was left with 3 children who didn't know their father. She was so lonely she started having talks with The Undertaker.

Lynne was splitting a little more everyday. She desperately needed someone to talk to badly. Her friends all quit visiting her because of Steve and they made excuses not to see her so she talked more and more to the one who become her mentor, The Undertaker.

After a while he would show up to where she could talk with him and have a cup of coffee. One day they were talking and he said, "Lynne, for your own mental health you need to get out of this house and find another outlet or you are going to whither away into nothing. You give 100% of yourself to your family and it's about time for the real Lynne to come out. She has been buried within you too long. The kids are in school and the youngest is in preschool so why don't you go and take a few courses at the college down the street?" Then suddenly he was gone. She thought about it alot after that.

She had gotten her GED and passed the TASP Test so she could take anything that sparked her interest. She signed up for her academic couses, speech, history and government.

Lynne excelled in english. She was always winning awards for her writing and the college published a few of them in the school newspaper and magazine. Her english teacher said that her essays made his head hurt because most of his students were fresh out of high school and had no idea of what the world was really like. Her essays made him think for the first time in years.

Everyday Undertaker would show up for coffee and sometimes bring pamphlets and class schedules and the catalogue to look over. She finally picked art and signed up for 2 classes.

"Taker," she said, "I'm scared. My art teacher says that I have pure, raw talent just like Monet, Bazille, Manet and Picasso. I have been in awe of their work for years. I can't live up to that." Lynne had a look on her face that signaled to him that she was about to go back into her comfortable little shell and he couldn't let her do it.

"Lynne," he said, "do you think that the works of the great art masters that you see in museums and books are the first ones they painted or drew? They had to go to school just like you. They had to learn how to draw and paint. Their first pieces of art most likely looked worse than you could imagine. Think about it." he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and left. He had made her feel better.

Within a year her paintings and drawings were winning awards right and left and had become the star of the school's art shows.

In the fall, the art students were setting up the fall art show. Lynne was the organizer and had to arrange for the opening tea, the art booklets and the docents to welcome who came to look and explain any questions they may have had. Lynne was the only docent she could get. Because of this the college paid her for her time.

The day of the opening was getting close and Lynne wanted it to be a big success so she invited her whole family, even her inlaws. While Lynne and a few of her classmates and her teacher were making last minute changes her mother and father-in-law and Steve showed up. Her mother in law let out one of her many pearls and announced to everyone in the library lobby that she had come tonight to see the show so that she wouldn't have to come in the morning. She also said that it wasn't worth seeing anyway.

Lynne ran out of the lobby and back to the art studio at the school. The only ones that came after her were her classmates and her teacher. They did what they could and Lynne told them she was OK even though she wasn't and they knew it but they all left giving her some space.

"Lynne," Taker said.
"Yeah, what do you want? Are you gonna tell me all the art stinks too and it should be burnt like my family thinks?" he came over to her and put his tatooed arms around her. "You know the artwork is good and everyone is going to have their own opinion. Your inlaws and Steve couldn't understand why you left. They don't know how passionately you feel about your works of art. Maybe you should tell them how you feel. Steve has caused you to have too many unfallen tears. Don't let him get away with this. Go to him and explain it to him and if he still doesn't understand, blast him." She looked up smiling but he was gone. She went home and let him have it with both barrels, holding nothing back. Like Taker had said he had no clue as to how she felt. He wanted to crawl into the biggest hole and die seeing the love of his life hurt and crying.

Steve and the family started hatching a big surprize for Lynne to let her know how sorry they were. They had no idea of her feelings for the whole art world. They didn't understand how hurtful their cruel teasing was. The whole time Taker was watching and continued to give Lynne the support she needed. Her friends at school, close to a hundred in her group, all were strong supporters.

Lynne's mother-in-law came over and was tried to tell her that she thought Lynne knew she was teasing. Lynne, for the first time had a completely candid and honest conversation with the "thorn" in her side. "Betty, listen to what I have to say before you say anything. Right before your son and I got married you let the whole world know that you did not approve of me and to top it off you suggested that I abort your grandchild. I could never do that. How could you have even suggested that I do that when you are a card carrying Roman Catholic. You always said that I was not good enough for your son. Well let me tell you that it was the other way around. You do not know the hell I have been living in for the past 24 years. Floyd drank when you two got married but apparently he was mature enough to give it up before the family curse of alcoholism took hold of him. You have never had to dread calls at 2 and 3 a.m.. the sounds of sirens going down the street haven't scared you to death. Police officers showing up at the door in the middle of the night informing you that your husband had just been arrested for dwi's or pi's. Yes, they can arrest you in your drive way. You did not see Steve's truck after the accident. My friends at the police station said that if Steve hadn't been falling down drunk he would never of survived. By him being drunk he didn't have control of his body. There was only a ten inch gap for him to crawl through to safety before it blew up!" Lynne put her head in her hands and cried. Taker whispered in her ear to continue because her mother-in-law was staring at her in disbelief.

"Lynne, everything you just told me is a complete lie! My son would never do what you are telling me. I RAISED HIM RIGHT!!" She was defending her son which was her right. She knew her child but she did not know Lynne's husband.

Taker gave Lynne another poke in the arm telling her to keep going. "Well, Betty, let me introduce you to my husband." Lynne left the room and came back with 2 boxes full of court papers, lawyer reciepts, bail bonds, mug shots and regular pictures. The second box had certificates stating that he had completed his many hours of community service and certificates of the classes he had to go to or go to jail resulting in the loss of his job. "We could not have afforded him losing his job." Betty couldn't believe what was in front of her in black and white.

"You're doing good. Keep going." Taker whispered again. "Betty, what you said and did at the art show in front of my friends and teacher was awful and uncalled for. You claim to love me and then you turn around and embarrass me like that. Your kind of teasing is out and out intentionally cruel! I used to watch your family lay into your mother unmercifully at family gatherings. I comforted her when she had to step out of the room because she wasn't going to give you the satisfaction of seeing her cry. I saw her tears, you didn't. Your teasing hurts people. Since she died the new object for your cruelty is me and I am not going to be a doormat for you to wipe your feet on any more! I want you to leave my house and never come back!"

Betty got up and walked out still having the look of disbelief on her face. She finally got the message. Later, Steve told his mother, "Mom, you don't know what impact we all have had on Lynne. Have you ever looked at what Lynne goes through everyday? She is a child rescueer for the church. anytime a child is in trouble she drops everything and rescues the child. Mom she had to press charges against one of her friends when she happened to open the door just in time to catch the child that had just been thrown across the room. She has partial custody of the little girls from across the street. With my schedule and problems over the years, she has had to be mom, dad, handyman, nurse and child advocate. She also had to live through the experience of her mother dying in her arms. It's a miracle she hasn't broken into a million pieces!" Taker had followed Steve to his mom's house and reported back to Lynne. He praised her for finally developing a backbone.

The art show was a big success and was in the paper everyday for the whole 2 weeks. Lynne sold 3 of her paintings which got the attention of her inlaws. To them your worth is how much money you earn.

Steve and the families and friends went ahead with their surprize for her. All of them had made excuses at why they couldn't go shopping or a walk in the park or just visiting. Lynne still banned her inlaws from the house and her life. The day before the Thanksgiving break, Lynne's daughter-in-law came over and asked her to go to a mall almost to Galveston. She said she was afraid to go alone. Lynne looked at Taker who was still drinking his coffee. He nodded his head and made a motion telling Lynne to go ahead. He knew what was about to happen. They were gone for 3 hours.

When they got back from the mall Lynne was blindfolded and led into the backyard. All she heard was the deafening sound of over 200 people yelling, "Surprise!!" the blindfold came off and Lynne understood why they had been "too busy" to come over. They had specially built her the dream art studio that she had drawn detailed plans for. They were almost as good as a professional blueprint. It was 20'x 20' with windows all around and a see through roof. It had the shelves and tables and eisels just like she wanted. Taker looked at her and gave her a thumbs up sign and then he left.

Lynne's daughter-in-law got a names list from her art teacher and made the calls, organizing the whole project. It was a lot of work but seeing the look on Lynne's face made up for all the work. Her art teacher made the eisels and her class mates had each made stretched canvases. Her sons made the shelves and tables and her daughter-in-law had seen to it that it was cleaned after all the work had been done. The party was over around nightfall. Her oldest son and daughter took the young ones back to their house for the night giving Lynne and Steve time to be alone, which they badly needed. Taker looked on in silence.

Steve planned a night in the art studio with his wife that he loved. Lynne didn't know of the additions to the studio. Although she had a P.C. she had out grown it. The hard drive was full and she sadly needed a new one. He bought her a top of the line Compaq Pentium Computer, a 17" moniter and a color printer. In addition, there was an in-the-wall closet and a Murphy Bed.

She knew there was a microwave but there was also a very compact fridge and freezer. That night Lynne and Steve had the most loving night they had ever shared. The one thing that did not need fixing with Lynne and Steve was their love life. They have never had to use aids, role-playing, videos or any other enhancements. As a matter of fact it just gotten better!

After Thaksgiving everything went back to normal. While Lynne and Taker drank their coffee he said, "Lynne, you and Steve have the most unusual relationship I have ever seen and I was wondering if you could explain it to me. Here is a man that has put you through hell yet you stay with him and you are still crazy in love with him and he is crazy in love with you. Please explain it to me. Why have you stayed?"

"Taker, I love him and I don't give up on anything. I knew from the start that my life would not be an easy one. Life is not a smooth road. Every once in a while the road gets a pothole. Our road has had more potholes than others but we have made it through, a little worse for wear but we have made it. When it is just the two of us without the phone or the kids or work it is wonderful. When he stopped drinking, he got too serious. He threw himself into work and school. I basically didn't see him for 4 years. We got together when nessessary and mealtimes but we didn't spend any time talking and I found other things to fill my time. My mom had to do that with my dad but he didn't drink. His problem was other women. Almost from the time they were married he bedded other women. Steve isn't like that. From the time we met til now we have never even thought about cheating on each other. I know the true Steve and he knows the true me and that is what keeps us together, true love is a bond no one or anything can break. When I said in my wedding vows that I would love him forever, I meant it and so did he. We both believe that marriage is for life no matter what."

"But", Taker said, "I have heard some of your fights and you even gave him a blackeye the other day." Lynne looked at him and laughed. "Since Steve made the jump to management, he has to go to alot of meetings during the day and sometimes when he's off. The meetings are always at fine resturants. When he takes me out, he has to have a coupon or a gift certificate from work. I got mad at him and he laughed at me. I just lost it and connected my fist with his face. I didn't mean to hit him in the eye. Holding his eye and still laughing, he hugged and kissed me and left for work."

"I still don't understand but its your life." Taker said.
"Taker, alot of people have tried to bust us up, one being his mother. Others like his best friend and other friends all tried to bust us up. They told bald-faced lies like I had gone to bed with them when he was out. Even my oldest brother told him that I cheated on him. Thankfully he knew me well enough to know better. When you truely love someone thats it. Throughout our life together women have tried to get him away from me and even though I am about 100 pounds overweight and starting to get gray hairs men have tried to get me away from Steve. They will never succeed. We don't want anyone else."

Taker just looked at her and shrugged his shoulders. The phone rang. When Lynne answered it she nearly passed out. Steve had been in a fire at work and needed her to meet him at the hospital. His wallet was burned up and he needed all the information. When she got there his hair was all gone and he had burns all over his body. They weren't serious but would need to be kept clean. He went back to work 3 days later. Where Steve worked the threat of explosions were constant. Knowing that she could be a widow at any time also kept them together. Outside interferences didn't matter.

To Be continued....