"A Love Story..."

From a blog I read:

Happy Anniversary to Us . . .
Posted: 02 Nov 2013 11:16 PM PDT

Five years ago today we met.

It started out with an early morning coffee at a Tim Horton’s Donut Shop about halfway between our two homes.  He didn’t actually want to meet. He thought we lived too far apart (about an hour) and wasn’t interested in a long-distance relationship.  We had connected online and something about his profile piqued my interest so I persevered.  Eventually I got him to agree to a phone call.  That conversation then spurred him to agree to a face to face meeting on “neutral” ground.

We both are biological fathers from failed hetero marriages.  We have similar jobs.  We both came out later in life.  We lived on the same Island.  It seemed a good start to me.

I arrived at our rendezvous first and although I had a rough idea what he looked like from an exchange of photos I still doubted my capacity to spot him in the crowd.  Naturally I was nervous.  I missed seeing his entrance but somehow he saw me and quickly arrived at my table.  He tells me he fell in love at first sight.

We had a warm and comfortable conversation.  I wasn’t very adroit at dating and although I was enjoying our conversation, I looked for a way to end this initial encounter.  My father always advised us as children to “quit while you’re having the most fun so that you will always end on a good note”.  I certainly didn’t want to overstay my welcome.   Remembering that I had recycling materials in the back of my truck that I had planned to take to the garbage dump, I stammered that I needed to go.  As soon as I said it, I realized it sounded contrived and terse so I followed up with “would you like to go with me?”  To my pleasant surprise he said “yes”.

We abandoned his car and we drove to the garbage dump as well as a few other chores.  Our connection seemed immediate.  Through conversation, we realized that we had much in common.  Our marriage and parenting experiences matched very well, our coming out stories were very similar and before we knew it, the minutes had turned into hours.  One of the goals I had, which also resonated with him, was that I wanted someone “that I could do things with”.  We ended with a romantic candle light dinner at a nice restaurant near his home.  When I finally returned him to his car, twelve hours had passed since we first laid eyes on each other in the morning.

Since then, we’ve progressed from a casual date to “going steady” to being in a “committed long-term relationship”.   I am still in awe that we lived within a relatively short distance from each other and that he matched me so well.  He is the kindest, most forgiving and generous man I have ever encountered and I am indeed fortunate, and “count my lucky stars” every day to have met Bill and to have him in my life.

We've been happily in love ever since that first day.  Happy anniversary to us . . .

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I learned from their story something I already knew - Love is real and it's never too late to seek happiness in these brief moments we call a lifetime...

"Fear Eats the Soul"