My Love Story: Denise's Story

 We all have one. A story that tells how we  began our happily ever after. Our story may have twist, turns, laughs, tears, and all the in between, but they are ours. I have asked a few bloggers and readers to share their stories.

 Here are their words....their love stories.

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I was 43 years old and I had been divorced and steadfastly (and happily) single for about 11 years.  My son, Kevin was getting ready to graduate from high school at that time and our life was a whirlwind of completing college applications, proms, FAFSA funding applications, essay writing and graduation preparations.  My son was actually applying to schools out-of-state and, while riding the train into work, it occurred to me for the first time that when he left for school, I was no longer going to have anyone to care for.  GASP!  How did I let that happen?  I had made my son,Kevin, my absolute priority in life and was always focused on that task, and never really gave any thought to what I would do when he was grown.  This realization snuck up on me unexpectedly.  So now, I'm sitting on the train, tearing up and wondering where the time had gone. 

 

After a few weeks, I pulled myself together and started mulling over ideas on how I was going to handle this next chapter in my life.  At the time, I had a single girlfriend who met a wonderful man on Match.com.  They had just gotten engaged and my friend was encouraging me persistently to give the online dating game a whirl; I was dubious at best.  I had dated here and there, but never really put any effort into the dating game -- I was a busy mom and just did not feel like I had the time that a relationship deserved.  After much coercing by my friend, I signed up for a 3 month period and dipped my toe into the online dating pool.  Well, after two months, I can tell you that I had some horrible dates, met some nice people too (just not for me), and still had 1 month of my 3 month trial period looming.  I have to say that I wasn't up for continuing; this just wasn't working out. After some prayer and contemplation and the passing of a week or two, I opened my mailbox and found an advertisement for a local university that offered adult degree programs at night.  Maybe this was a sign.  Maybe I was moving in the wrong direction. Maybe instead of finding someone to take care of, God was telling me it was time to take care of myself.  So, I decided that I'd let the online dating thing go, and that my time would be better spent if I went back to school and got that degree I always wanted. I promptly enrolled in college myself! 

 

 

Flash forward, I'm happy working and going to school at night when I receive an email notification that someone has sent me an email on the online dating site.  My curiosity got the best of me, so I opened the site and took a look.  I received an email from a man named Robert asking if I'd be willing to look at his profile and maybe correspond with him.  I clicked on the profile button, and read.  His profile was sweet, spoken from the heart, and we seemed to have a lot in common -- and he was handsome!  I closed the profile.  I had no intention of emailing a response.  In my head, the online dating thing was a closed topic, and I went about my business.  Over the next week or so, however, my mind would wander to the words in Robert's profile and I would find myself opening it over and over again and reading.  I would chastise myself -- focus... you have a goal!  I pushed it out of my head again and again.  

Finally, it came down to this -- I just had to know.  One more date couldn't hurt.  I finally sent an email response back to Robert.  We corresponded online for a while, eventually exchanged numbers and 3 weeks later, agreed to meet for our first date.  We agreed to meet up at a local restaurant.  When I entered the door, I was super nervous.  There he stood.  He smiled at me.  I took one look at that smile and thought "oh boy, I'm in trouble".  That was February 19, 2010.  We were inseparable from that point on and married on April 2, 2011.  He is the love of my life!  

Oh, and P.S., I didn't give up on that degree, I graduated college with a degree in Business/Organizational Management on August 5, 2012!

 

XO Denise