Truly one of the worst times in my life!  My wonderful life with Tina had come to an end.  To save money, the Governor of California had declared that classroom size was to become larger and to many schools it meant that all teachers that were not already tenured (two complete years), would lose their job, because they had to cut back.  Tina had a year and a half in Poway School District and she lost her job.  Tina, industrious as she was, immediately started looking for work.  Her search around San Diego started expanding and expanding until she landed a new job at the San Jose School District; only 500 miles away.  Within a month she moved. 

Bam!  I had my job here, a good union job and been there for five years.  There were a lot of retirees and I had moved up the ladder pretty quickly, union jobs are extremely tough to get, and even tougher to move up in seniority.  I wanted to finish my career here, I owned a home.  She moved in June 2002.  She immediately started Dating some people and had a few bad experiences. 

On Labor Day, I drove up to visit.  We decided to try a long distance relationship.  We worked out a schedule of her coming to San Diego and me going to San Jose.  I got home to learn that Consolidated Freightways, where I worked those 5 years, had gone out of business over the weekend.  By 6:00 AM the next morning I had two applications out and was working that night at Yellow Transportation, later to be hired full time in October.  Meanwhile, Tina and I made our trips back and forth for a couple of months, and in November, a few weeks before Thanksgiving, I visited San Jose.  I went by some of the union trucking companies in San Jose and interviewed; I considered moving, as I was now rock bottom at Yellow Transportation.

We planned out our Thanksgiving and Christmas schedule and vacations, and the last thing before leaving to come back to San Diego, Tina was sitting in my lap, kissing me and begging me not to leave.  The weekend was over and I had to be at work early the next day.  It was 8:00 PM and I had 500 miles to drive home.  Within a half hour after leaving, I tried to reach Tina on my cell phone so we could talk on my drive home.  I couldn't reach her.  The next day she didn't return my calls either and the next, she sounded distracted, and wouldn't say anything was wrong.  I was worried so I looked at her email, afraid something had happened (I had her password), and Bam!  The morning after I had left for San Diego, the morning after the night where she sat in my lap and begged me not to go, that next morning there was an email from a man telling her how good it was to be in her arms again, that it was such a wonderful night and he couldn't wait until dinner that night. 

Well, that was too much for me, I felt rather insignificant.  I felt like I had been hit by a truck, I wished I had.  Sometime over the next day or so I wrote this poem.  I didn't care about rhymes or rhythm, I just needed to get the words out; I was terribly hurt.

A Gale has Risen (the Storm)

A gale has risen, it wracks the shores

It steals the tiny boat and drags it to sea

Tossing and splashing and spinning around

Dragging the thread line that was once it’s moors

Such a little boat and made of wood

Though it’s sunk it’s still afloat

Longing for peace that fathoms offer

It’s sluggishly tossed among wave tops

Then pulled down once more

The weather is high, the wind even higher

The clouds boil the sea foams

The little raft capsized and torn

It becomes the currents and the waves

A darker shape for none to see

Lost in the fury of the storm

A gale has risen it tears the soul

The pounding in my blood

Set drifting upon boiling seas

With only the small thread that was once secure

A memory that’s past

The submerged ship that’s lost at sea

The breaking of my heart

Daniel Copper  11-21-02