Written as Part of Arlan Wise’s
Writing Track at the 2013 OPA Retreat
B Y N ANCY B EALE
A
wedding day is supposed to be the
culmination of a girl’s childhood
dream: the prince on the white
horse. On August 30, 1980 I married my
prince. Heading off into that fantasy of
“happily ever after,” who could have imag-
ined what surprises would await us?
The first clue was a rocky start with his
parents. We walked into their hotel room
the morning after the wedding, a little foggy
from the merriment the night before. The
fog lifted quickly as I heard my new father-
in-law say, “You whore!” Now that caught
my attention and I was completely clueless
as to what had prompted it. Turns out some-
one in his family misinterpreted my behavior
at the reception while I was visiting with
some old friends at a crowded table.
My husband was the oldest of six children
in a close Irish Catholic family. News trav-
eled fast within the clan. The shock of this
encounter had me a little shaky. So less than
24 hours after my wedding, I was back in
my parents’ home while my new husband
dealt with his family. Lucky for me, he took
my side and asked his parents to leave town.
Once back in the city where we all lived,
we didn’t speak to his family for two years.
When his siblings started getting married,
we attempted to repair the rift. The first ef-
forts were not successful so we missed the
first two weddings. By the time the third
one came along we had a truce, although
O P A
not the reconciliation my husband had
hoped for. No one was willing to admit they
were wrong.
Life went on, careers were building, and
babies were born to our siblings. My hus-
band had made it clear he was not inter-
ested in having children and I agreed. Even
though I had imagined myself with chil-
dren, I was more interested in having my
great love, my knight in shining armor. He
weakened his position on children after a
few years but I never conceived.
Our life was everything I had dreamed of,
beginning with the honeymoon in Hawaii.
Back in high school a classmate had mar-
ried and when I read in the newspaper that
she had honeymooned in Hawaii, it
sounded so romantic. I had never traveled
much out of the state of Florida, so the trip
to Hawaii was as fabulous as my fantasy.
My idea of marriage was fashioned out of
the TV shows of the 50’s like Donna Reed
and June Cleaver, greeting the husband at
the door all dressed up with dinner ready.
But this was the 80’s. Women had careers. I
was a CPA and my husband was an attor-
ney. Secretly, I was just biding my time until
I could be that 50’s housewife.
I was changing jobs about every two
years. My husband started his own business
and once it was off the ground, I wanted to
be free to travel with him and entertain
clients and their wives. He finally gave in.
The Organization for Professional Astrology
9
My dream resumed.
There were business
trips to California,
Hawaii, and London.
We built a home on
the water. We vaca-
tioned in the Ba-
hamas and then bought property there.
Sure we had the usual relationship issues
that come with marriage and in-laws. With
the entertaining lifestyle came lots of alco-
hol, which at times was excessive. We are
both Pisces: Sun, Mars and Venus.
Then in September of 1997, after a trip to
the Bahamas, my husband became ill. At
first, he thought it was just an infection due
to a cut he received while cleaning fish.
When he didn’t feel better, the doctor
started doing all kinds of digestive tests but
everything looked normal, so they said.
We began building a home on our prop-
erty in the Bahamas. He didn’t get better.
This Bahamas house was his dream. With
his Sun-Mars conjunction, no illness could
keep him from his goal. Then on April 1,
1998 after 7 months of tests, a radiologist
finally found the culprit - pancreatic cancer.
We were devastated. What happened to our
“grow old along with me, the best is yet to
be”? We got second and third opinions.
Same diagnosis, prognosis: one year max.
Now our lifestyle became doctors and
treatments. I may be [C ONTINUED ON P AGE 10]
THE CAREER ASTROLOGER
WINTER 2014