Three years ago, I met my mortal enemy. Of course, I didn’t know it at the time…much has changed as time has gone on.

Everything started out innocently–a few friends meeting for dinner. A large group of us were planning to meet, and I knew that I wouldn’t know everyone there.

Who would have thought that a dinner would turn out so badly?

When I arrived at the restaurant, two of my friends were already there–Bob and Phil. I waved, and moved over to stand with them. They quickly introduced me to a few others who had already arrived; I forgot their names almost as soon as they were spoken.

One name, however, will be forever etched in my mind. I knew I had met my equal that night, the moment our eyes connected. Her name was Rachel Sorensen.

Unfortunately for me, I mistook our locked gaze for the start of a romance. The one lucky piece was that she made the same mistake.

Almost immediately after introductions, the waiters arrived to whisk us to our tables. We moved along in a rough line behind the waiter…I made certain to stay behind Rachel, so that I might catch a seat near her and be able to strike up a conversation. I had no intention of letting this serendipitous evening pass without at least getting her number.

And I gained much more than that–a mortal enemy…but more on that later.

The dinner was wonderful…we seemed to be a perfect match. We both had similar tastes in music, were interested in the same topics, and had the same sense of humor. How did things go so wrong?

After dinner, Rachel and I went out for drinks. The night passed too quickly, and we ended up watching the sun come up together.

And that, my friends, is how I meant my mortal enemy.

Three weeks later, we’d been on several dates. On our tenth date, she broke the news to me…she was pregnant.

Life went crazy over the next several months. It was just too early…we’d barely gotten to know each other, and while we’d been so similar at first, we couldn’t have had more different ideologies in raising a family.

We began to fight. A lot. Before too long, we weren’t even speaking anymore, though Rachel’s belly continued to grow. Our personalities were simply too similar–both of us were too stubborn, and had too different of an idea of how to handle the situation.

And she shut me out. She stopped taking my calls, and I finally grew so angry that I stopped thinking of her as Rachel–she was now the woman, the ex, the enemy.

Nine months after our first night together, a baby girl was born.

Tomorrow, I have a court date, where I need to go and fight for my right to see my daughter. It’s so sad…a relationship that could have been so good, and now we fight like enemies. I hope for peace someday, but for now, I need to be able to see my kid–I might not have expected her, but there’s no way I’m going to lose her.

I’ll fight the enemy until the end. And in the end, I will win.