Worth Waiting For

by Sandy
(California)

In 1994 I was involved with a local online club through which I met many friends, my ex husband, and the man I'm with now. Many of us used to get together for parties, pizza, and going to clubs.

At one pizza outing, my original date had stood me up and I saw "Joe" sitting with friends at a booth. I don't know what possessed me, but I walked over to him, sat down on his lap and said, "When are we going out?" and he said, "When do you want to go?".

We dated for about a year, but it was fairly casual and definitely not exclusive for either of us. But we began a friendship, and I did develop a crush on him. After about a year, I was also dating what seemed to be a very nice, stable, secure younger man.(Let's call him "Sam")

He seemed to have all the qualities I valued in a person. He was a hard worker, he had good values, he came from a stable family background, and seemed like he'd be a good catch for any woman. Since I was looking to settle down at that time, and my other main guy, Joe, was a party animal/player with no prospects of wanting to settle down with anyone, I broke it off with Joe and began seeing "Sam" exclusively and after a few years married him.

Little did I realize that I was about to enter into 14 years of hell. Sam was abusive and a serial cheater. But with 2 kids and a mortgage, I was afraid to leave. Sam had made me believe that I couldn't make it without him, and no one would want me anyhow. So I stayed until I couldn't take it anymore and finally kicked Sam out.

During the rough times, Joe crossed my mind a lot, and even though we lived in the same town and even worked for the same company at one point (always opposite shifts), I never saw him again.

A while after the divorce, I was bored one day, and found some friends on MySpace from the old group. I wondered if I could find Joe there too. And I did. I sent him a message simply saying "Hi, do you remember me?" I had no idea whether he'd say just "Oh yeah hi," or "No, not really."

After a few days I received a reply. He said "Remember you? Only like I remember how to breathe. I couldn't forget you as long as I live, and my biggest regret in life was letting you slip away. I always felt like I didn't treat you well enough while I had the chance."

Needless to say this took my breath away. He and I eventually started seeing each other again, (exclusively this time), and found that we had much more in common than we ever realized. Both of us older and wiser by this time, we were able to start a real relationship.

Now we finish each other's sentences, speak what each other is thinking, and share so much together.

Every single day he tells me how much he loves me and how beautiful he thinks I am. I am the envy of all my friends because of the things he says and does for me.

For my birthday he stood up in the restaurant in front of my family and friends and recited the poem he had written for me. He sings love songs to me, helps me around the house, is willing to talk openly about anything. When we're apart, he says things like, "I miss you like a caged bird misses the sky" He treats me, my kids, and my animals like he adores all of us.

Love can be worth waiting for... sometimes its not the right time, and sometimes its not the right person... but when you finally get both of those things right... its the most amazing thing in the world. My message is: Don't give up on love.