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I found a late teaching opening in Joliet, Illinois, two weeks after the 1990-91 school year had begun, interviewed, and accepted their offer. Debbie joined me there, and our healing process began. Debbie's family was slow to accept the fact that she actually wanted to stay with me after everything, but eventually came around. In the summer of '91 I took a job at a hardware and auto parts store, keeping it part-time during the following school year in Joliet. Debbie was working at a bank three blocks away from school and we rode in to work together everyday. Between my two jobs and her one, we started to build a little nest egg. For us, it was time to start a family. Debbie became pregnant early in 1992, and to seal our commitment we renewed our vows on our sixth anniversary at a church in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in front of our immediate family members only. (We chose Lake Geneva because it's very pretty and was no more than a three-hour drive for anyone involved.) In April, two things happened. First, a referendum for the Joliet Township School District failed, and as a cost-cutting measure 65 teachers were to be let go at the end of the school year. With only two years there, I didn't make the cut. Second, Debbie miscarried at three months. The owner of the hardware store was one of the best bosses I ever had and picked me up full-time on salary that summer. Debbie said that under no circumstance was I to look for a teaching position, though. I had had an affair with a high school teacher, and she wasn't about to see any chance of that happening again, despite how well things were going between us or the renewal of our wedding vows. Later in '92 Debbie became pregnant again, and again miscarried. |