Happily Ever After

Fear & chaos ended in death. From death came new hope, new life...

The first time I met him the chemistry strong. I was older then and hopefully wiser; I knew that chemistry doesn’t always mean compatibility and compatibility doesn’t always include chemistry. Maybe if I tried flirting a little I thought… he seemed safe, trustworthy with kind eyes and a sweet smile. I didn’t think he’d judge me if I make a fool of myself when I tried to come on to him, lacking in grace and sensuality. I’d never felt like coming on to a man before (usually they come onto me they way guys with one-track minds do).

My oldest son really liked him and clearly thought we would be good together since he kept encouraging me to sit and talk with him during competitions so there I was putting on this air of confidence on the outside but on the inside I was nervous as heck. He seemed so nice, but he’s nice to everyone. “I know,” I thought “I’ll play with his beard since it’s so irresistible plus his daughter said he doesn’t like anyone playing with it.”

Hmmmm, he wasn’t pulling away so I guess that meant he didn’t mind after all. It was fun flirting with him, especially since he seemed so confused about my intentions. “How do I make it more clear without throwing myself at him?” I thought. It had been so long since I’d done anything like this.

We both enjoyed sitting together at church. Maybe I can convince him to carpool for the harvest festival (a Christian concert and festival held at angels stadium). It was funny how outgoing and shy he was at the same time. After harvest, we all went to in-n-out where he took my hand for the first time. I knew then that this was the beginning of a beautiful relationship, moving from friends to more than friends.

Then came a problem I didn’t foresee. My youngest son hated that I was in a relationship. He saw it as a betrayal to his deceased father. He thought this new person was trying to replace his father and that made him furious. As the years went by my now husband and I married and bought our first home together. Although my youngest was extremely opposed to my husband, he was mature enough to see how happy he made me and that my happiness was more important than his feelings. Despite this, the lashing out only became worse and worse throughout his high school years. Although he never got physical with my husband, he became someone to be feared in our household. Unfortunately, he left home still carrying these feelings, moving to the other side of the country with barely a goodbye.

A year later he returned a new man. I didn’t know what to expect when he arrived, but the first thing he did was shake my husband’s hand and apologize. We talked for hours as he described the transformative journey he went on in the forested rural areas of Maryland. The time away gave him time to mature and become a man I am proud of.

Nowadays we’ve officially grown old together (even though I was almost fifty when we met). We’ve bought the home we’ll spend the rest of our lives in and are renovating to make it perfect. Our big blended family is all grown up and off to happy lives.

And here we are. Two people who came from broken and tragic past together happier than we’ve ever been. I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with him.

Here is our first ever user submitted story by Janet and Tony!

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