I never imagined that I would meet, fall in love and get married within a year through an online dating service. But I did and I'm ever so grateful.
My husband and I celebrate six years together and I still remember the moment I fell head over to heels (so to speak) and literally cashed in my single chips for a blended family filled with ups, downs, disabilities and fun along the way.
It was Valentine's Day and it was also the first time I'd ever really been out on a date. It was not my first relationship. I had a four year old and I was thirty. I spent twelve years with my son's father. We just hooked up though. I'm talking about a real date. You know the kind - flowers, romance and a night to remember. That is exactly what my husband gave me.
He took me to a small restaurant. It was one of our favourite places to go when we got the chance, which as a single mother of one over-rambunctious boy wasn't very often.
When we got to the restaurant the waitress brought over a bottle of my favoirite wine. The restaurant did not carry this brand I knew. I discovered my husband had gone out earlier that day and purchased the bottle bringing it to the restaurant so that we could share a few glasses together. Big brownie points so far, I thought.
He gave me roses. Four to be exact, but not just any roses as three were green and one was blue. Those were my two favourite colors and he'd had them painted since ordinarily one would not find green roses growing on a vine. How sweet, right?
But it was what he did at dinner that stole my heart. It was Lady and the Tramp night, being Valentine's and all. So we shared a platter of spaghetti and meatballs. When it came to the last strand of spaghetti; he lifted it and offered me an end while he took the other into his mouth. Then just like the movie we ate the last stringy pasta until we kissed.
But that isn't all. He stared at me. "You are the best thing that's ever happened to me" he professed. "I'm going to prove it to you." Then right then and there he bent his head and rolled the meatball across the plate toward me. Every one was watching. Everyone was whispering. I began to cry. No man had ever done anything so humiliating and so totally fantastic for me and it was then I fell in love with him.
Being with my husband is great. Being silly, never worrying about what he's thinking or if he cares about what I wear or how I look. Just being able to be myself and him be himself. It's the best gift anyone can receive.
Lady and the Tramp is my favourite movie. Spaghetti is my favourite pasta. Blue and green are my favourite colors and he remembered my favourite bottle of wine. Is that why I love him? No. I love him because my husband has a brain injury which causes him memory loss from an accident he suffered when he was eighteen. He wrote down my favourite things so he wouldn't forget. That is why I love him.
Because no matter how impossible it seems, love can surprise you.
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