"MY JOURNEY TO 'THE ONE'"

Having been on both sides of the fence I've endured the pain of divorce and the frustration (to say the least) of dating a string of characters. All have been neatly added to my very own 'wall of shame'.They are a reminder of what is really out there and why the odds of finding 'Mr./Mrs. Right' is like winning the lottery. Sadly, the chances of that are even greater.

One by one I'd meet people through a dating line, I'd even go as far as to schedule 'meetings' at the same coffee house within an hour of each other just to speed the process up. And once again, that didn't work either. However, I did get to know the girl at the counter and got some free coffee and goodies every time I'd step through the door. It was funny though, she'd comment on how many people I actually went through meeting without any success and just couldn't figure out why none of them weren't suitable.

I knew clearly what the reason was. There wasn't any chemistry. Perhaps, I expected it immediately. Perhaps, they didn't 'fit' my personality. Perhaps, there wasn't any physical attraction. Perhaps, they were only looking for one thing. But perhaps, it was me, just not interested in them. And now you ask 'why would I subject myself to all this without the least bit of success?' Well, I'll tell you. I was looking for 'THE ONE'. Yes, you read correctly, 'THE ONE'. Who knew that after my (believe me I had lost count after the tenth meeting) 43th meeting I'd still hadn't found 'him'. Only now it had me questioning myself. I had to be the problem. What 43 possibilities and in the end no one? That's impossible! Oh yes, but it was possible!

Years passed and I had finally come to the realization that I was destined to be alone. In fact, I had gotten so comfortable with my 'singlehood' that I became afraid of getting close to anyone. I'd relied on myself for 14 years why start over now.

Then right out of the blue, there he was! I hadn't planned for it to happen. It just did. It was a natural process of boy meets girl, girl meets boy, and they become friends for a few years. Unbeknownst to either of them that they had found their 'soul mates' in each other. Feelings continued to grow but nothing was ever truly revealed until one night I opened my mouth and the words just spilled out of my mouth. I couldn't stop them if I tried. I uttered the three-famous words, 'I love you' and eagerly awaited to hear the reply.

My heart must have stopped because I was perspiring thinking about what he must have been thinking after having heard that. The seconds seemed like hours and then suddenly I hear, "I'm flattered". Hmmmm did I hear that correctly? "I'm flattered?" Well, I took a huge risk by telling him how I felt (not to mention made a complete fool of myself). I was deeply worried at this point that I had jeopardized our close friendship. I truly cherished that and would just die if I had lost that too. But if I did, I had absolutely no one to blame for this but myself.

Finally, he went on to the reasons why we couldn't be together, and yes I'm afraid they were valid ones at the time. Yet, he didn't reciprocate how I felt either. However, I wasn't entirely convinced that he wasn't in love with me. Two weeks later, we revisited the same discussion and this time he finally blew me out of the water and said the words I had been longing to hear him say for the longest time. "I love you too!" That was one of the happiest days of my whole life. I have the battle scars to prove it. I slide off my chair and landed on the floor with a huge 'thud'.
And from that day forward we began our incredible journey of true love together. It's been a little over three years that we've been happily together and wedding bells are definitely on the horizon in the very near future.

The moral of this story is that 'THE ONE' you've been waiting for all your life will make themselves known to you with a giant 'thud' to your behind!