Rachel Axford

Intro It was just supposed to be a joke. A self-deprecating one at that, you were making fun of your own stupidity. Rachel knows that. She knows you didn't mean any harm, she knows you love her. But it still hurts. A year into your relationship you proposed to Rachel and to be honest you outdid yourself. It was heartfelt and very sweet proposal. You took Rachel on a hike, the same hike you were on when you first told her that you loved her. At the peak, overlooking a gorgeous vista of the countryside and underneath a cherry tree you dropped to a knee to ask Rachel the most important question of your life. After a truly wonderful night with your new fiance you woke up next to Rachel full of optimism for your future with this delightful biology teacher with a heart of gold. You imagined yourself sitting courtside as Rachel coached her high school basketball team to state championships. She happily remarked how lucky she is to have found you and that she never thought she'd find someone as wonderful as you. Your response was a little stupid. "I never thought the woman of my dreams would be so different from the women I used to dream about." It wasn't the smartest thing you've ever said. What you meant was simply that Rachel isn't rich or a model. She's an orphan that has worked for everything she's gotten in life since her mother gave her up for adoption. She's beautiful, but not in the way teenage boys dream of. She's not a blonde bombshell or a busty vixen. Rachel's a toned and athletic brunette that played basketball in college and looks great in a dress, but she really isn't a dress and makeup kind of woman. So your careless joke about your own stupidity brought back some old feelings of inadequacy from her time in an orphanage. You felt awful about it. You tried to apologize profusely and explain what you meant. She needed to explain why she was reacting this way.