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February 18, 2003
3 Years
Three years ago today, around 6 pm or so, I was sitting outside my office, smoking...I had started dating a bit again after my divorce about 2 years or so earlier, using a couple of on-line dating services to weed out the weirdos. (I had realized I was working too much when my kids started trying to fix me up with their friends' single parents.) I'd met a few interesting men, but nothing spectacular. After 2 disastrous marriages, I wasn't really wanting another relationship, just someone to hang out with from time to time. I'd reached that decision because I knew exactly what kind of partner I wanted...and had become convinced that he didn't exist. However, I wasn't willing to settle for less. Sometimes close enough isn't good enough, and there are much worse things in life than living alone.
At any rate, I was sitting, smoking, thinking, waiting for my date for the evening to arrive....a interesting sounding guy I'd met online and with whom I'd been corresponding via e-mail for a couple of months. I heard someone walk around the corner of our office and looked up...there he was. I couldn't breathe. He smiled and said "Hi, I'm Mike. You must be Rita." And I knew...just knew somehow and I froze. I was terrified. For a split second, I wanted to cut and run...and almost did. But I've never been much of a coward, so I took a deep breath, smiled back and said "Yep, it's nice to finally meet you."
The rest, as they say, is history. We went out for dinner and talked until they closed the place down & ran us out. (I know, what a sappy cliche, but it's true.) It was as if we were best friends that had been separated for years, and we were getting caught back up on each other's lives. With the exception of a few unavoidable trips, we haven't been apart since. I moved in with him a month or so later...our kids thought we were nuts. We were married in NYC on September 2, 2000, by a reverend/rabbi on Staten Island...a wild story in and of itself for another day.
And after 3 years, I'm still glad I didn't run.
Posted by Rita at February 18, 2003 09:26 AM