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WINNER
Name - Barbara H
I had had a grueling day in New York, going around the city to different client meetings and trying to meet deadlines. As a commuter form Connecticut, I took the Metro North train from Grand Central Station to return home every evening. That evening, naturally, I was running very late, and arrived to Grand Central with just two minutes to make my train on the lower level. Yes, I could have run like a wild woman to just barely make the train. But I took a deep breath, and instead decided to slow down the pace and stop the madness. I could grab the next train in 30 minutes, I thought, and headed for the Cafe at Grand Central. As I stood sipping a cocktail and looking down over the ant-like crowds of commuters, a handsome man came up next to me, and asked if he could put his bags down while he went to the bar to order a beer. Yes, you guessed it we both intentionally missed the next four trains, engrossed in each other and our conversation. Turned out he was visiting from California and had missed several connections, including his train to Connecticut. Had anything gone more smoothly that day for either one of us, we never would had met at that precise moment in Grand Central. We spent quite a bit of time together over the next two weeks. On his last night, I invited him over to my apartment for dinner. As we made final arrangements over the phone, I saw in my mind a picture of a gray ring box. On the train home, i thought how crazy I was to be conjuring up such notions of love and marriage. Once at my apartment, he excused himself from the patio where we were chatting. Later, I said I needed to check on dinner. As I headed to the kitchen, I passed the study, and out of the corner of my eye, spotted a gray ring box sitting in a corner of the desk. OMG, I thought, "He IS going to ask me to marry him, but I've only known him for two weeks, so I have to say NO!" Later in the evening the moment came. He got down on one knee, revealed a gray ring box, made a beautiful speech that I can hardly remember. I was too busy frantically trying to come up with ways to say "no" without completely turning him away. Finally the question: "Will you marry me." And rather than the quickly rehearsed ways to decline, my mouth opened, and out blurted an excited "Yes!" We were married two weeks later, in Connecticut. That was 23 amazing years ago. And I still have the gray ring box.
FINALISTS
Name - Hazel C
It was November 1939. Unbeknownst to me, a young man had seen me standing in front of Perkins Dry Good Store in Paris, Texas, where I waited for my uncle to take me home from work. The brash young man told his friend "I'm going to marry that girl." His friend said, "Who is she?" Jack said, "I don't know but I'm going to marry her." The next day, he borrowed a vehicle and stopped and as they say these days, "chatted me up." I was terrified my uncle would see me talking to a stranger! But Jack had a way about him-and Uncle Bob was soon his friend. Jack and I eloped on March 23, 1940, after a whirlwind courtship. "Poor" was not a bold enough word to describe our circumstances. Our first home was graced with paneless windows! But we were young and in love and truth to tell, most of our friends lived similar lives. Thus the old saying, "We were poor but we didn't know it." Five years and two babies later, with WWII still raging, rationing was tight but Jack had to go to town on a cold February day. When he returned he had the necessities I'd hoped for. He said he had a nickel left over, so he bought me "a little something" for Valentine's. It was a handkerchief, and I used it to wipe my tears, knowing he'd spent his last nickel to buy a gift for me. Years passed, and circumstances improved. On our 50th anniversary, Jack bought me a brand new Cadillac, and I was thrilled. The Cadillac was traded years later for a truck that was easier for Jack to get in and out of. We'd been married more than 64 years when cancer took Jack away from me. So many memories are packed into those years. I'm 91 now and I still have that handkerchief, and when I see it I remember the love and happy pride Jack had in giving it to me.
Name - Debbie D
In March 2009 I started getting emails from MyLife.com, the reunion website, that a 55 year old male in Blaine, Washington who graduated from Pearce High School in Richardson, TX was searching for me. I was getting 2 or 3 of these emails per week. Since I didn't know anyone in Blaine, Washington I just kept deleting these MyLife.com emails. After deleting countless emails I finally gave in and decided to click on the link of these "pesky" emails and found that my first love from Junior High School, James Clark, had been searching for me. I about fell out of my chair as I read his name - I had never forgotten him. I emailed him back - very nonchalantly asking "how's the wife and kids?", and we started emailing back and forth - volumes about our lives for the past 40 years. We were both divorced after difficult marriages and both of us had pretty much given up on finding "the one". In July I flew to Washington to see him face to face and we knew right away that we belonged together. After that trip we talked and emailed every day, and in September I made another trip to Washington - this time James met me at the airport with his truck pulling a large trailer packed with everything he owned, and we drove back to Richardson, Texas together. He and I are making a new life together now and are amazed that we have found such happiness and contentment in each other. We know it was all God's timing and not ours and we are grateful for this second chance. We are engaged but have not "set a date" yet. We know we will - we just don't know when. This will be our first Valentine's Day together since 1969!
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Name - David B
I met my wife in an odd way. I dialed a wrong phone number. I was a big flirt and so was she. She didn't think she would ever hear from me again. She was in fact engaged to another man. I wouldn't give up. I kept calling and calling until she finally agreed to meet me. We went out and continued to date. 5 months and 1 day later we were married. That was January 14, 1966. We have been married for 44 years now. She is truly the love of my life!
Name - Skip V
We met at a wedding reception. She knew the bride, I knew the groom. I decided to 'go for it' by walking up to her in her circle of 8 other friends and began talking to her. My first question was very suave and debonair: "Do any of those rings mean anything?" as I looked at her hands adorned with 9 rings!! I wasn't quite bold enough to ask her to dance and stood there as some other schlep asked her to dance to Wang Chung! After 2 fast songs, the music slowed and she looked over at me and I motioned that I'd meet her on the dance floor. It was George Michael's Careless Whisper...anyway, we were together for the rest of the reception, hanging out with her friends and mine. As the party ended, we agreed to go 'uptown' to a bar to continue the evening with our friends. Once I got into my friends car I announced to my buds that I just met the girl I was going to marry...to which they accused me of being inebriated. I WAS NOT! I asked her for another date and two weeks later she and I went on our first 'real' date. That night I asked her to marry me...it took her 3 months to say yes and we were married 1 week shy of a year after we met (met May 19, married May 12 of the next year). After we married, I went to flight school for the US Army and she left the hopping city of Pittsburgh to come with me to itty-bitty Enterprise Alabama...THAT was 26 years ago and I'm STILL very much in love with her....
Name - Alexis V
I married my best friend September 19, 2009 after 14 years had past since our first date. We were married on Lake Ray Hubbard at sunset aboard the Seawolf. The sunset was the most beautiful one we'd ever seen! Scott & I first met right after I graduated college & he had just returned from the Air Force- serving in the Desert Storm. Our family would stay at some cabins near Tyler on Lake Palestine where Scott worked while finishing his degree. I would often go stay for the weekend by myself & whenever I did, Scott would always check in to make sure everything was OK with the cabin. It was very sweet. Now to fast forward this story...2 years on...2 years off, a move to a different state then we reconnected because I knew my life would not be the same without him. After a 2 year break, it was like we didn't miss a day together. We picked up right where we left off. It has been an absolutely wonderful 10 years. I consider myself so blessed that after 14 years, I can still honestly say...I just married my soul mate! Thank you for reading our story... ~Alexis
Name - BJ B
Ours is a lasting love story: We were sweethearts in high school in Kentucky from the age of 16 to 20. I thought we would get married at graduation but he went to the Army and so I went to college. I got engaged at 21 thinking he would not let me marry anyone else and said to my father standing in the back of the church in my wedding dress, " Stop halfway down the aisle and if Michael is in the church, I will walk back out." The Army had a lockdown inspection that same day and he could not even use the phone. So I moved away and never saw him again. 40 years later I am sitting in Dallas, TX on my patio and he calls saying he has been in love with me for over 40 yrs and wants to come to Texas. Stunned, as I was single for 15 yrs and didn't like to date, I said OK. He came to Dallas and as we saw each other for the first time at the airport, we both knew that time had not changed a thing. I had loved him since I was 16 yrs old. Of course he moved down to Dallas and at the age of 60 years old, we said our "I do's" and now I have been Bonnie B for 4 years and hoping for a lot more years. It is true that if it is meant to be - it will be. True love never really dies.
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