It's hard to believe that so much time has passed since my wedding day on September 21, 1985. I was only twenty-three and still living at home. My husband Bruce Lee (his American name) was six years older and pretty new to this country. He had only been here since October of 1983, I had been here since 1971.
He wasn't my Mr. Right, but he was a sensible choice and I loved him. We had the usual ups and downs that a marriage will have. We had no illusions of a fairytale life. A happy ending takes work and lot's of it. We didn't rush into having kids and took our time getting settled into married life.
We vacationed once a year, since Bruce had a tendency to be a bit of a workaholic. Funny how we try so hard not to marry our fathers and we end up doing just that sometimes. My dad was always a great provider, but that is the best thing that I can say about him to this very day. Anyhow, vacations were the glue that kept our marriage together, that and special days and holidays. Thank God for those.
We had a beautiful daughter in 1992, after taking Bruce back to the Azores, where I hail from, to show him my old stomping grounds. He loved it so much that he wanted to live there one day, six months out of the year. After that we settled down to raising our wonderful daughter Vivien and Bruce became quite an entrepreneur. Along the way we started to fall apart. What he was doing became increasingly more important than us, his family. He lost himself along the way and by the time he was taken from us on August 13, 2006, we were practically just roomies. As I suspected for a very long time, he had been unfaithful for years. Quite a blow, having been a devoted wife, but can't go back now and change things. At least I can say that we toughed it out and never got a divorce and my daughter didn't come from a broken home.
I have lived the life of a widow for a little over two years now and I swear that my daughter and I have packed a lot of living into the last two years. Bruce was murdered ten minutes before closing time at one of the stores that he owned at the time. His murderers are still at large. Nothing was taken from the store and we are still waiting for a break in the case. Anyone with information regarding his murder should call the San Jose Police Department Homicide Unit. It would bring us great peace of mind and it would be greatly appreciated.
He wasn't my Mr. Right, but he was a sensible choice and I loved him. We had the usual ups and downs that a marriage will have. We had no illusions of a fairytale life. A happy ending takes work and lot's of it. We didn't rush into having kids and took our time getting settled into married life.
We vacationed once a year, since Bruce had a tendency to be a bit of a workaholic. Funny how we try so hard not to marry our fathers and we end up doing just that sometimes. My dad was always a great provider, but that is the best thing that I can say about him to this very day. Anyhow, vacations were the glue that kept our marriage together, that and special days and holidays. Thank God for those.
We had a beautiful daughter in 1992, after taking Bruce back to the Azores, where I hail from, to show him my old stomping grounds. He loved it so much that he wanted to live there one day, six months out of the year. After that we settled down to raising our wonderful daughter Vivien and Bruce became quite an entrepreneur. Along the way we started to fall apart. What he was doing became increasingly more important than us, his family. He lost himself along the way and by the time he was taken from us on August 13, 2006, we were practically just roomies. As I suspected for a very long time, he had been unfaithful for years. Quite a blow, having been a devoted wife, but can't go back now and change things. At least I can say that we toughed it out and never got a divorce and my daughter didn't come from a broken home.
I have lived the life of a widow for a little over two years now and I swear that my daughter and I have packed a lot of living into the last two years. Bruce was murdered ten minutes before closing time at one of the stores that he owned at the time. His murderers are still at large. Nothing was taken from the store and we are still waiting for a break in the case. Anyone with information regarding his murder should call the San Jose Police Department Homicide Unit. It would bring us great peace of mind and it would be greatly appreciated.
