Sometime on the evening of July 12, 2023, Dom's younger sister Marina died. I got the text message from Marina's younger daughter Lexie. I had the task of sharing the news with Dom. He was of course saddened by the news but at the same time relieved that she was no longer suffering. Marina suffered most of her life dealing with the effects of Lupus and no doubt the Lupus may have accelerated the rate at which the pancreatic cancer took over her body.
Dom shared with me that Marina had bad choices in men. Her husband was in the army and the family thought at first he was a good guy until it was found out years later that he gave Marina chlamydia before their wedding. It was also found out that he was abusive to her. The only good thing that came out of their marriage was their daughter Ava. Ironically her husband died in a motorcycle accident the day after Ava was born. He was basically horsing around on the motorcycle and wound up crashing the cycle. The other good thing was that he had full military benefits which was passed to Marina and Ava.
So then Dom told me about the other guy in Marina's life. She never did marry him because if she did, she would've lost the military benefits from her deceased husband. But Dom told me that the other guy and Marina were involved in various scams and that other guy spent all of Marina's money on frivolous items and once he spent her money, he moved on to other women that had money. He left Marina with Lexie. And like the husband, apparently he and another woman he moved on with, abused Lexie. It was a messy tale.
Despite the odds Marina made a life for herself and her daughters. She defied the odds with having two children when doctors didn't think she would be able to have kids. They also didn't think she would make it to her 18th birthday but she almost made it to her 52nd. She was an artist and sold many drawings over the years of various fantasy characters, some of which were used in different Dungeons & Dragons games. She even took Ava and Lexie to different D&D conventions. They spent most of their lives living in the Florida panhandle before moving back to Indiana to live with Dom's parents in the extended part of their home.
Marina was always nice to me. I remember the first time we met she asked me, why Dom? LOL. Sometimes I question it myself. But of course I fell in love with the good qualities Dom has. He has both book smarts and common sense. He has a calming presence even when I'm stressed out. He's shown through his actions that he does love me which made my love for him grow as well.
She told me that if Dom and I broke up that she would retain custody of me. LOL. She really was the sweetest. It's definitely sad that she's gone. She wanted to be cremated. I'm not sure if they will have a service or not (and not sure if there will be more obit drama...LOL). Dom's Mom mentioned that they may just have a small family gathering at the house to remember her and that she would take Marina's ashes with her when her time comes.
Interestingly enough I messaged Lexie to let her know if there was anything I could do to let them know. Lexie told me that Dom's Mom said to just take care of Dom. With all of Dom's health issues, she's afraid of losing him too. I told Lexie I would but I was mad at myself for missing a prime opportunity to throw a dig back (even if the timing may not have been appropriate).
As I mentioned before it was Dom's Mom that didn't want my name included in her husband's obituary due to their belief that marriage is between a man and a woman. So I missed the opportunity to say, "taking care of Dom is part of our marriage contract". I'm wondering how she would've responded to that. But it's okay. Despite that drama I still love his Mom and I know she loves me to in her own way.
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