From The Mind of Bobbie Dahl:
A Journal Entry
Every year I tell myself that Thanksgiving will be great. I hope and try to speak into existence that Thanksgiving will be full of love and drama-free, as it should be. But this year I wasn’t as sure of the outcome as in year’s past. And Artie’s mother was the reason of course.
All of the stress and bad feelings this year have been her fault. The absolute heartache she caused to our families was never even expected, especially from her. And not only that, but her lack of remorse afterwards? I just don’t understand it. I don’t think I ever will, even if she gives a good enough explanation, or apology, for what she did.
I could never do that to Artie, no matter what the case was. We might not exactly be the perfect couple, or even two people anyone but our parents saw us ending up together, but he’s been my person since before we even knew what that even meant. We’ve always been there for each other, and I’ve tried to protect him as much as I could. But this situation with his mother? Well, I couldn’t protect him from that. I couldn’t ease the pain he was feeling.
So color me surprised when my mother actually decided to invite his mother for Thanksgiving dinner. She’s always been a gracious host and she knew that now that his parents were trying to work through her betrayal that it wouldn’t be fair to invite him alone. As fair a point as that was, I knew…I knew this family dinner would not go smoothly.
And, boy was I right….
Thanksgiving Day
Emotions Boil Over
It’s the first Thanksgiving with Bobbie’s parents officially living just outside of Las Vegas. And because of this, Bobbie’s mother offered to host the family dinner in their new home. Bobbie and Artie had thought it would just be them spending the day with her parents, but they were both surprised when they showed up to find his parents in their living room, having a friendly conversation with Bobbie’s father.
It was an awkward situation to say the least. Emotions still weren’t completely healed, even now that Artie’s parents were back together and going through therapy. Bobbie and Artie didn’t exactly agree with his father’s decision to reconcile with his mother after her infidelity, but no one really had a say in the decision, either. All they could do was try and act civilly around each other and hope that eventually, things would get back to a sense of normal. If that were to ever happen, anyway.
Artie was quiet most of the day. He simply couldn’t find anything to speak about around his parents. Not that he wanted to. And because Artie was quiet, Bobbie was for the most part too. Save for the few times when her mother brought up something that forced Bobbie to respond. She was doing her best to not make the entire day so awkwardly silent.
As they are all sitting down at the dining room table for dinner, it has now become one of those awkwardly silent moments as Bobbie’s parents are in the kitchen gathering the last remaining sides for the dinner table. Bobbie and Artie are seated directly across from his parents, and Artie is just staring down at his empty dinner plate, quietly eager to get this night over with. Bobbie and Artie’s father exchange a look and Bobbie just shakes her head at him. He sighs, and both understand how difficult this is for Artie.
“Barbara, this dinner looks absolutely lovely!” Artie’s mother exclaims, breaking the silence. Bobbie and Artie quickly look at her, but both remain silent as Bobbie’s parents return to the table, setting the last few things down. “And I just have to say thank you again for inviting us. I, for one, am so grateful to be spending Thanksgiving with all of you.”
Artie rolls his eyes and looks away, refusing to say anything. Bobbie just stares at her mother-in-law, wanting to say something in response, but deciding its best not to for fear she might say the wrong thing. Bobbie’s father is about to start cutting the turkey, but her mother places a hand on his, stopping him. “Hold on, honey.” She says, causing all eyes to fall on her. “I, uh, thought that we could start today by going around and all of us saying what we are thankful for this year.”
“Oh, Ma, that’s really not–” Bobbie tries shoot the idea down but she’s quickly interrupted. By Artie’s mother…
“What a wonderful idea!” She says excitedly, clapping her hands together. “I will start, because I have so much to be thankful for this year.”
Artie lets out a laugh and shakes his head. His mother looks at him, and instead of bringing up the obvious, she continues. She looks to her husband next to her, takes his hand in hers and gives it a gentle squeeze. “First and foremost, I am so incredibly thankful for my loving Arnie. He’s always been so good to me and he gave me the best son in the–”
“You should be thankful for him. Especially this year.” To everyone’s surprise, it is Bobbie who interrupts her and not Artie as they had expected. Artie turns and stares at Bobbie, shocked, yet holding back a slight grin.
“I…I beg your pardon?” Artie’s mother replies, almost horrified.
“Bobbie, now is not the–” Bobbie’s mother attempts to get involved.
“Forgive me, Ma, but I just couldn’t stay quiet any longer.” Bobbie says, and everyone remains silent, still staring at her. Artie is again holding back a proud smile and does nothing to stop Bobbie from continuing. “You should be thankful that Mr. Miller took you back after what you did. I don’t know what happened to you, but you’re not the woman I looked up to growing up. You’ve…you’ve changed and even now that you’re supposedly trying to make up for what you did, it doesn’t seem genuine.”
Artie’s mother slumps back into her seat, folding her arms across her chest. She stares at Bobbie, still shocked, but her expression quickly changes and she narrows her eyes at Bobbie. “You haven’t exactly always been loving yourself, Bobbie.” She snaps back, causing the tension to grow even further in the room. Artie’s dad tries to speak, but she stops him. “No, Arnie. I think this all needs to be said now.”
Bobbie’s mother shakes her head, and her father remains awkwardly silent. “Amelia, I, I’m sorry for Bobbie’s outburst, but now isn’t–”
“Oh I think it is, Barbara.” Amelia replies. Bobbie is now glaring back at her mother-in-law. “Do you want to know what happened, Bobbie? Do you?”
Bobbie nods. “Yeah, I really would. I think I speak for all of us when I’d like to hear the truth and not some sorry excuse.”
Amelia laughs. “You happened.”
Jaws drop collectively in the room and Bobbie shakes her head. “Excuse me? I don’t know what you mean by that.”
Amelia laughs again and shakes her head. “YOU split my family apart, dear. Not me.”
“Amelia, please.” Artie’s father tries to speak again. But, again, it doesn’t work.
“Everything has always been about you, Bobbie. You dragged Artie across the country to Las Vegas so you could chase this ridiculous wrestling career of yours.” At this point, everyone is left shocked. Bobbie and Artie’s father’s exchange an awkward look and Bobbie’s mother stands up.
“Now hold on a minute, Amelia.” She says, finally getting the attention pulled to her. “Bobbie has done well for herself in her wrestling career and we’re very proud of her. ALL of us.”
“And I didn’t drag Artie across the country.” Bobbie chimes in, growing angrier by the minute. “He chose to come with. In fact, it was his idea! I would have been just fine with travelling, but he thought–”
“He did it to make you happy, dear.” Amelia snarls back. “Not because he wanted to.”
“You don’t know anything about what I wanted, Mom.” Artie finally breaks his silence, jumping in to defend his wife. “I didn’t want to be stuck living at home my entire life and I’m happy with my life here with Bobbie. Which is more than Dad can say back home in Illinois with you!”
Amelia shakes her head once again. “She’s done well for herself, huh? When was the last time she won one of her matches? She’s even going to be embarrassing herself on the next show by dressing up as a baby because she couldn’t even follow through on her own challenge! And let’s not forget that she’s the reason I don’t have a grandchild yet.”
And that did it. That last sentence changed the entire energy of the room. More importantly, it drained any ounce of anger from Bobbie and brought out feelings she had been holding back for quite some time. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t even look at her mother-in-law any longer. The tears started flowing and she pushed herself away from the table and ran out of the room, straight towards the door leading to the backyard. Artie glared at his mother with pure rage.
“Don’t ever contact me or my wife ever again.” He snarls, and Amelia is actually shocked. Artie pushes himself away from the table and runs after Bobbie, knowing how those words must have made her feel.
Bobbie’s mother glares at Amelia. The two had been friends for a long time, but that friendship might now be over. “Get out of my house.” She says, pointing towards the door. “Arnie, you are more than welcome to stay, and I hope you do. But Amelia? You are no longer welcome in this house.”
Amelia looks to her husband. He just shakes his head and looks away, and her expression sours. She sighs and shakes her head before standing up without a word and then grabs her jacket and her purse and leaves.
Meanwhile, outside…
Bobbie got away as quickly as she could. She needed some fresh air or she felt she was going to be sick. She couldn’t believe that a woman she had loved like a second mother for so long could say something so…hurtful. Amelia didn’t know why the words stung so bad, but Bobbie wasn’t about to try and make things better by telling her why.
The tears wouldn’t stop. She was an emotional mess when Artie walked up behind her out in the backyard. It was dark outside, but Bobbie didn’t care. The night time air in Nevada was relaxing to her and looking up at the sky also helped ease her mind at times. Artie didn’t know what to say, though. He placed his hands on her shoulders, trying to comfort her in any way that he could.
“So much for a peaceful Thanksgiving.” Bobbie says through sniffles. She tries to laugh and work her way through the emotional pain, but Artie knows her better. “I’m sorry, Artie.”
“Sorry for what?” He asks, genuinely curious. “You are not to blame for my mother turning into such a horrible person.”
Bobbie shakes her head. “I didn’t mean that.” She wipes away her tears and turns around to face Artie. “I meant I’m sorry that she was right.”
Artie’s jaw drops a bit, but he shakes his head and wipes away more of her tears. “Bobbie, I don’t care about that and you know it. I wouldn’t know what to do if we had a baby anyway.” He laughs and scratches his head. The idea of being parents was definitely a scary one to the both of them.
“You’d be a great daddy, Artie.” Bobbie replies back with a smile. “Our kids would totally prefer you over me.”
They both share a laugh, finally feeling the stress ease up a bit. But they couldn’t just drop the subject. No matter how hard they tried, it kept coming up at one point or another. But it was what Artie said next that surprised her. “I think you should start IVF.”
Bobbie’s eyes widen and her mouth drops slightly. “What?”
Artie nods. “I’m serious.” He replies quickly. “If having kids is that important to you, let’s go for it. Let’s do what we can to have a baby.”
Bobbie doesn’t know what to say. Well, she does, but they had already discussed the uncertainty of IVF. “If I were to get pregnant though I’d have to stop wrestling…at least temporarily.”
Artie shrugs. “So then I’ll wrestle. What do we have to lose?”
Bobbie thinks for a moment. He was right. Being parents was important to the both of them, and as crazy as it sounded, Bobbie wanted to experience everything about Motherhood- the pregnancy aspect as well. But she knew, even with IVF, it probably was not going to happen. But if Artie wanted to give it a shot…
“Do you….want us to? Not just for me?” She asks.
He smiles brightly at her and nods. “Of course. I don’t make decisions because you make me. You know that. Now come on…let’s go tell your parents.”
Artie gives Bobbie a quick kiss on the cheek then rushes inside before Bobbie can even stop him. Her mouth is open and she tries to say something, but it's just a bit of a squeak that comes out. She closes her eyes and takes in a deep breath. When her eyes open again, her expression has saddened again.
But this sadness was telling a different story…
Welp…it looks like on Sunday I’ll have to eat my own words, so to speak. I issued the challenge and the stipulation to Harper Mason to stick it to her, but look what happened? I lost. And now I have to dress like a baby at Climax Control on Sunday. Eh…I can own up to it. I’m not about to be called a hypocrite or anything.
But, I won’t sit here and focus on that. The match is done and over with. My baby costume is all ready to go and I’ve even got myself a match, too! This oughta be fun to do. Wrestling in a baby costume! Eh…Halloween wasn’t too long ago anyway so let’s just call this another Halloween costume! A late one! Sorry folks, I don’t know what has gotten into me. I mean, here I am excited that I’ll be wrestling in a baby costume, when I should be ashamed…embarrassed.
Well…I’m not. I’m just thankful to have a match and I don’t care under what circumstances it falls under. I’ve had a bit of a crazy year and I really need to end it on a high note. I started out as the Bombshell Roulette Champion, but now look at where I am…in the biggest slump of my career so far. At least since I started taking this seriously.
But wouldn’t you know it that my opponent seems to be in a similar spot as I am. She’s seen more success in her SCW time than I have, but look at her now? She’s essentially given up and like so many others I see, she just doesn’t care anymore. She is a shell of what she used to be. Seems interesting that I get put against these types of women so often. Mercedes…Seleana…now Song? Eh, what do I know.
Back to what I was saying. Song is not the woman she used to be. She’s letting this slump get to her, and it’s showing in the worst way. But…so am I. When people watch me in the ring, they probably think that I’ve given up in a sense. That I don’t care. But that is the difference between Song and I.
I want to win. I want to get back to the glory I tasted earlier this year. I don’t want to be looked at with pity. I want to be successful again. I’m not here just to pad numbers to the roster. I’m here to be the best that I can be.
What about Song? Why is she still here? Why does she continue to compete and show no sort of emotion for what she does. She has no drive or determination. She just…is. I don’t want to be that person.
We all go through a crazy time every now and then. It’s just a fact of life. But it’s how we work past all that stress and craziness that matters. It’s how long we allow ourselves to be consumed with all the negativity that we experience. The longer we allow it to eat at us, the harder and harder it becomes to climb back up the ladder.
Song has not been in this state for long, that is true. But her downfall has been fast so she may reach the point of no return a lot faster. Me? I’m not letting myself reach that point. I need to end 2024 on a high note and get back to my winning ways and it all starts on Sunday against Song. I might not end the year as a champion like I did last year, but I can damn sure make sure that I’m at least headed back to a title picture.
Song, unless you see the light honey, you’re just going to fall further and further into a pit of despair that you’ll have no choice but to just disappear quietly. Do you really want that, Song? If you are listening, I want you to think about that long and hard. Think about what it is that you want and just figure it out soon honey.
Song, you’re the first in line in Bobbie’s train ride to redemption. My losing days are officially over and Sunday I turn things around.
See you then, Song! May the bigger and better woman win…and I plan to!
