A Celebration of Love

This weekend, my boyfriend and I will be celebrating our 1 year anniversary.  One year ago Saturday, we had our first date and thus started our path to where we are now, living together and discussing getting married.  I have to say, I was skeptical at first when I joined EHarmony.  Even though it was named the #1 dating sites, I’d been on several others before that were supposed to be top notch (match.com, okcupid, true.com) and none of them had worked.  I’d gone on a few dates, but there always seemed to be something wrong with the guy: either they weren’t ready for a serious relationship, we didn’t have as much in common as previously thought via emails, or they were complete jerks who didn’t show up or never returned my calls/emails after that first initial contact.  Before joining EHarmony last December, I hadn’t been on a dating site in several months because I had given up after my last failed attempt to find a decent man.  I was tired of searching, and decided to give my self a break and focus on work and trying to move out.   Then, EHarmony sent me an email for a free communication event that would last 7 days, running into early January.  And they sent it to me about 4 or 5 times, so I finally decided to go ahead and give them a shot.  After all, it was free so what was there to lose?

After I’d been on the site for about 7 days, they had a special going, three months for $30 dollars, so I joined, hoping I wasn’t going to regret it.  After being up there for about a week, I had two perspective guys I was considering exchanging my phone number with, Robert and Joseph.  Both were in the Navy, both lived in my area, and both had qualities I was looking for in a man.  Joseph and I exchanged email addresses after a few days of talking on match, and then finally exchanged phone numbers after about a week.  By that time, I hadn’t heard anything from Robert for about four days and I was about ready to write him off. (In the end, I did hear back from Robert, but by that time I had decided to give Joseph and I a chance, so I told him I’d found someone else)  The first phone conversation Joseph and I had lasted three hours!  I’d never had a conversation with someone last that long, not even my best friend.  It was wonderful, not only did we have tons of things in common (movies, music, food), but he made me laugh.  I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d laughed so much with a guy, especially one I’d never met before.  The next day we had another three-hour conversation, and he asked me if I’d like to meet.  I agreed, ecstatic to meet the guy I’d had such great talks with over the phone, hoping against hope that he was who he said he was and our meeting wouldn’t turn out to be a big disappointment.

Luckily, our first date turned out to be all that I hoped and more.  He was a perfect gentleman, he pulled the chair out for me, paid for dinner and the movie, put his coat around me when I got cold in the theater, and the icing on the cake, he bought me a red rose.  It was literally a perfect date.  And the rest, as they say, is history.  We began dating exclusively, and while we’ve had our ups and downs, for the most part, it’s been a great year.  I was nervous about his first meeting with my parents, but my mom really seemed to take to him, and my dad, well he’s not really too much of a people person, but he seemed to like him too (As a matter of fact, later on in our relationship, he cooked for his birthday, and he doesn’t do that for just anyone).  When he met my family at my granddad’s birthday, they embraced him immediately, and just like that, he was fully ingrained into my world.  I’m sure it was a bit overwhelming for him, not being close to his family and going through all the drama with his ex, but he handled it well, connecting with my granddad over being in the military, and he soon fit right in.  And even though things haven’t been perfect (what relationship is?), we’re still going strong a year later, and I am so glad that I finally found someone I can spend the rest of my life with.  We’re not doing anything extravagant on Saturday, just reprising our first date with dinner and a movie, but it’ll be special because we’ll be together and we’ll be celebrating many more years to come. 

Happy Wednesday all, and to all those who have that special someone in their lives, I wish all the happiness and love to you and yours!