Romantic at heart...

[Chariclo]

Ah February - a time of year when you either look forward to Valentine's Day or dread it!

Personally - I am a sucker for a love story - as I'm sure you are too or you wouldn't have clicked on this post!

So - since it is official the month of romance - tell me all about how you and your mate met and fell in love... yes I'll go first.



I was recovering from a horrible divorce and custody battle with my daughter's biological father - an abusive alcoholic. I was starting over and had pretty much nothing to my name. After the dust settled a little bit I rejoined the dating world. And I had numerous lousy dates with loser men. I had come to the conclusion that there was probably just not going to be ANYONE out there that I could relate to at all. I decided I would remain a single mother, indefinately.

It was then that my best friend told me about "a friend of hers who had a single friend, blah, blah, blah" and that we hould probably meet. He was a widower who's wife had died of cancer leaving him with a 12 yr old daughter and a 7 yr old son. (Not exactly the kind of baggage I was looking for - heck I had enough of my own!) She said he was older than me, about 40ish. (Okay I was 31 at the time - so that wasn't SOOO bad - right?) She added that he was a successful business man (stockbroker) who drove a Mercedes. (Okay - now we're talking!)

Anyway - I agreed to have dinner with my friend and her friends and their friend- HIM. That night at the last minute I called my friend and said I had changed my mind and that I wasn't going. I had thought about it long and hard - and really didn't like this whole blind date nonsense. She said, "I will be there to pick you up - BE READY!" So I - reluctantly - put on another new black dress, jewelry, and makeup. A first date ritual I had long since outgrown.

When we met at the restaurant it was effortless. We began with the usual chit chat, but before long, we both found it uncanny that we shared so much in common. We liked the same music, had similar political views, religious beliefs, etc., etc. Before our dinners even arrived at the table it was as if we were the only two in the room. Our other dinner guests seemed to have disappeared and we spoke solely to each other the rest of the night. We talked about our kids, our dreams and our regrets in life. By midnight I don't think there was a stone left unturned. I was entranced! And I thought he was too - but at the end of the night, my fairytale came to an abrupt end as he shook my hand and said, "Goodnight."

"THAT'S IT!?", I screamed when I got in my girlfriend's car to go home. I burst into tears and swore I would never let her fix me up with anyone again. He didn't ask for my phone number, or say, "Can I see you again?" or anything! And I thought it had gone so well. I felt like such a fool!

Little did I know he DID have as great a time as I did, and had sometime in the evening asked my friend for my email address. Monday morning when I got to work I had a message waiting for me, and an invitation for a real private dinner the following Saturday.

After that first encounter there were many other dinners and dates that gradually led to me quitting my job and relocating to be near him and his kids. That was 4 years ago. This past fall we built a home that all 5 of us moved into. And sometime this year we will be married.

His name is Lynn, and I have never met a more sincere and giving man as he. He keeps me grounded when I get a little out of control. He encourages me to be and do whatever I desire to. And he loves me more than I ever thought I had the capacity to be loved.

As a footnote - I don't see my old friend much anymore, but am very gracious for her efforts as she "just knew we would hit it off!" My only beef with her intial info however was that her 40ish was actually 50! :icon_eek:
But despite the age difference - it's a match made in heaven! :icon_wink

[Vankarhi]

WOW - how romantic is that. Very sad what you both had to go through to get there an all, but gee it must be worth it.

Well my story goes like this. I was married with 3 children to a very talented tradesman for 16 years. He was one of the best in his trade. He would get asked to travel inter state for whatever price he wanted. (he was a boilermaker). Unfortuneately drugs were a problem for him. He also could not keep himself to himself - if you get my drift. He was abusive to me and it was getting worse year by year. After 16 years, we separated, not on friendly terms and eventually divorced on Valentines Day 1997. It was the best Valentines day ever for me. I even had a yellow outfit picked out to wear for the event.

Anyway in 1999 after having dated a few men - some losers, I accidently ran into my high school sweetheart. We had not seen each other for about 19 years. He had been living in Papua New Guinea for about 11 years and had come back to Australia with his 2 children in 1997. His ex wife was still living in PNG (long story) and has since passed away (we think). Anyway we decided to get to know each other again, with 5 children we never got any privacy. That was 6 years ago almost now. We have been married almost 2 years and have a 2 year old little boy of our own. Stephen had to have a vasectomy reversal so we could have Caillean, and as you can see it was successful :eusa_clap . He allows me to be me, which is the first time in my life i can be truly me. He loves me unconditionally - which at times might be a little hard :aiwebs_01 and he loves my animals. We are just one big happy family (most times) now.

[VRSparks]

I met my fiance online. We both frequented a forum which uses the Star Wars movies as a model to teach eastern philosophy to kids (of all ages). I hated him. I thought he was a jerk, and probably a fat 13-year-old kid with no life. He was always complaining about his family. I had a horrible family growing up, and I thought his sounded very loving, if a bit overbearing, and I thought he should cut them some slack. We fought about it. One day I saw him mention a girlfriend, and out of the blue I thought "wait, that can't be, he's supposed to be with me!" After I recovered my wits, I IMed him. We never stopped IMing (nearly 24 hours a day) until the day I took a bus cross country to be with him 2 months later. Now we've been together for five years, engaged for two, and are getting married this June. He really was supposed to be with me. The freaky thing is, when I was a kid I was always saying that my husband's name would be Nick. I had forgotten about this until my sister reminded me recently.

- Victoria

[noe]

aww how sweet!! lol

[BirdzRmylife]

Touching stories all :icon_smil . Victoria, you cracked me up "fat 13-year-old kid with no life: LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chariclo]

These are great stories! C'mon every one - I'm sure you all have good ones...



Graeh - Yeah - us Scorpios keep the fires burnin huh? :icon_wink

[The Outlaw]

You have to have seen American Graffiti to understand the time and the era when Will and I first met. It was in 1966 and the summer break before my junior year in high school. I always looked older than my actual age and had been dating a guy who had graduated two years earlier. I was 16 years old and already working part time. I had just broken up with Mike and had nothing to do on a Saturday night. It was the first Saturday night I ever remembered being home once I started dating. Anyway, my cousin was dating a really hot blonde surfer and he was throwing a party for his friend, Will. I didn't really know either of the guys, but Marge suggested I come along for the heck of it.

It was Will's seventeenth birthday party and he and George (surfer guy) had been pouring resin and building a long board all afternoon. That plus this was a standard kegger. Everyone was pretty darn high. Since this was a pool party, I had on a tiny red bikini. It was actually the first bikini I ever owned.

Anyway, this guys swims up to the end of the pool where I was dangling my feet over the edge and says to me "Kiss me, you'll love it!". I thought he was a total jerk and told him so. I got up from the edge of the pool and moved over to a chair. He got out of the pool and came over again. This time he told me his name and also informed me that this was HIS birthday party. He repeated the sentence "Kiss me, you'll love it!" I decided, why not? And the rest is history (LOL). I did and he was absolutely right!

That evening, when I returned to my home, I remembered my little sister asking who that guy was and I told her, "Why that's the guy I'm gonna marry." We both laughed about that for surely he wasn't my first boyfriend and he was the youngest guy I'd ever even dated. In the fall of 1968, I did indeed marry him and have lived happily ever after.

THE OUTLAW

[ClaudiaP]

Well if it wasnt for my friend ditching me when we were suppose to go out I would never had met Chris. I was determined to go out and party that night so I decided to call an old friend whom I had not seen in ages. He invited me around and introduced me to all his new friends. I became fast friends with his girfriend and plans were made to go out the following weekend. She decided to call a friend she had not seen in months, we went to fetch him and this is where it all began, Chris and I hit it off from that moment, he always says he was intrigued by me that first night he saw me and thought I was a little crazy. We have been inseperable from that day 5 years strong! Love him to bits we both have such a passion for animals it is really great.

All your stories are great!

Clauds

[Vankarhi]

Jodie
Your story is similar to mine, except we had a much bigger break. I tried to contact Stephen when I came home from nursing, but he did not reply for about 4 months (on my birthday actually) and during that time I met the man I would marry (I thought Stephen did not want to see me). when I realised he did want to see me, I had to make a choice, I decided to stay with my then boyfriend because I felt it was the right thing to do, you know don't hurt him like he had been hurt in the past blah blah blah. Anyway, my ex and I split many times and during one of those times I contacted Stephen and we had arranged to meet. But I ended up going back to the ex, he made me feel guilty again. I cried because it was not where I wanted to be and had to write to Stephen to explain. We never contacted again, until we were 38 years old when we accidently met up. The rest you know. When we got back together this time he told me he had waited for me until he was 25 years old (we met when 16 years old) and then decided it was time to move on. Which he did, he moved to PNG. My friends and family knew I thought about Stephen a lot and knew I still had feelings for him - did not help that I was in an unhappy marriage either. Just thought I'd share that with you.

[Vankarhi]

Yes Stephen and myself have wondered what it would be like if we had stayed together, I would have probably finished nursing, he would probably be an electrical engineer and we would probably only have 3 children. But you know, it probably would not have lasted because we both had lessons to learn and obviously could not learn them from each other, and now we probably do appreciate each other more than maybe we would have. Still learning lesson's too!!! I think life is just like going to school.