Love that was meant to be
Tim and I met at church during our high school days oh so long ago. He had the prettiest brown eyes I'd ever seen. He was tall, and thin, and a little bit shy, but he gave me a kiss in the basement of the church, one that I would forever remember.
That memory crossed through my mind time and time again over the years. We lost touch shortly after high school. I married, he married, we had children, and he joined the Army, and went to work at the White House. I raised my child, and began a career.
My marriage failed. Not surprising in this day and age. My child was grown, my career established, I was alone. A friend recommended ICQ. I had no desire to talk to strangers, but what the heck; I thought I'd give it a try. To my surprise and delight, I met many nice people from all over the world. I became slightly addicted to it in fact! I had established quite a nice contact list for myself. On line friends would keep in touch nearly everyday. It gave me something to do in the evenings. Then late one night I got a message from a random user. He'd been bored that evening, and decided to see if there were any interesting bios out there on ICQ. He read mine, which mentioned that I was owned by two cats that didn't care for cyber. He thought that sounded interesting, and sent a message. "What is kitty cyber?" he asked. I had heard that one a million times, and almost didn't respond. "It means don't even think about it." I hastily retorted. When he received my message, he saw my email address, which included shia, for Shiawassee County. He knew there couldn't be more than on shia in the world. "I used to live in Shiawassee County many years ago" was the next message. "Well, I still live here, LOL", the next. When I opened the following message, my heart leaped into my throat, and I nearly fell off my chair. "Tim Mxxxx, does the name ring a bell?" Ring a bell, yes, a church bell!!! "Oh yes, you kissed me in the basement of the Perry Baptist Church in 1971!". I typed with great speed. " I remember," he said. He went on to describe the room, and who was in it. I was amazed! He really DID remember.
He lived in North Carolina, I was still in Michigan. Many many ICQ messages went flying back and forth over the net that night, and every night to follow. That was on the sixth day of September 1998. In November he drove nearly 1000 miles to see me. His hair was a little thinner, but he still had those pretty brown eyes that I admired so much all those years ago.
We spent a lot of money over the next few months, flying back and forth, but neither of us would change a thing. It soon became clear that we belonged together, and we would be forever. I quit my job, left my friends and my family, rented a big truck, and we moved my belongings and my kitties to sunny North Carolina.
We are convinced that God meant for us to be together. Perhaps we had to live and fail in order to win at love. In any case, we thank Him every day for his gift.
ou have a similar love story? We'd love to hear it. You may write to us at Judy and Tim