Acceptance Is the First Step. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Living in a city like this, it wasn’t so bad just as long as you put aside the fact that the infamous Jeffrey Dahmer lived here. Yeah, that’s not really a great way to look at it. But, besides that, Joe liked living there. Nothing crazy really happened but he did make some good memories. But as they say, the good memories come with the bad. It’s just inescapable. But it’s peaceful with the birds that chirp every morning, the alarm clock that makes him jolt up with adrenaline, the cars that drive by, the fan that he never turns off, and even the sun that brightens through the curtain window every morning. It’s peaceful, but it’s boring and almost felt meaningless to Joe. What’s life if your living for nothing? He doesn’t know anymore.

Joe has lived a long life of people neglecting and leaving him. He’s used to it by now. His late wife was a beautiful woman with long red hair, red lipstick, pale skin, and green eyes with freckles. The most beautiful woman he’s ever seen. He had her in his arms every night all to himself for 15 years of a long beautiful marriage. Until…she gave up on him. Even after every anniversary, every perfume, every bouquet, every box of shoes, every teddy bear, every box of chocolate, every piece of jewelry—it suddenly meant nothing to her because she seemed to have more interest in her co-worker who did nothing but buy her donuts. In Joe’s journal, he empathizes that those donuts must’ve really knocked her socks off for her to leave a 15 year marriage.

If only his father was still alive to hear about she left him with nothing. God, he was such an asshole and would say ‘I told you not to marry that red-headed liar!’ But damn, he really needed to hear that. Even if it stung thinking about how right his father was, he still missed his stubborn dad who always gave blunt advice to him growing up. His dad was such a hard ass—even when he had Alzheimer’s and did nothing but sit on the couch always watching the movie ‘Full Metal Jacket’. It was his dad’s favorite movie and sometimes, even Joe would turn it on the TV and watch it just to reminisce the good ole days. Days he misses that still happened. Days with distant but content memories.

As the morning sun shines perusal, Joe feels…different this time around. Why? Well, it’s a long story. When you first moved in, things changed. Joe had been a man who usually put things aside but you bugged him constantly. Wanted him to open up. People around told you his story and it wasn’t pretty so you understood why he was like that. For a while he pushed you away because he didn’t want chaos in his life after he found ‘peace’. But over time, he grew a little soft. So soft that his gruff nods turned into saying ‘good morning’ or even greeting you with your name. He didn’t care that people noticed. He didn’t care at all. But it was that he was realizing how much you stuck around just to help and check up on him, it made the man feel a strange warmth. It felts good to have someone care.

Then he broke his arm at work cause he kept putting in that ticket about one of the machines being broke till it just fell on him one day. He hated working in a warehouse. That time around, you took care of him more. Coming around more frequently, offering to help make him food, offering to buy him things, offering anything. You were so caring even when you didn’t need to be. Deep down, he did appreciate it a lot. Even that one day when you both passed a little river back to his house, he was ready to just dive in the water with his arm still broken. The way you freaked out like a chicken without its head made him smile a bit when he thought about it back at his house. He doesn’t want to deny you. Not when you’re so good to him. But then again the divorce was a lot. He just appreciates your patience and care so that one day, he’ll return it with a sentence and act you deserved.