My Love Story

What’s wrong with her?

That was the single most asked question whenever any of my family and friends were trying to set me up with every single guy they knew. I get it… I was 28, almost 29 yrs old and I had never been married nor had I any children. I was a single gal who was self sufficient and lived life on her own terms. My problem, according to my concerned public, was I didn’t socialize enough and put myself out there where I could possibly meet someone and basically, I was too picky.

So this is how Chad and I started our lives together……A blind date.

We had talked several times that week prior to our already scheduled date night. We stayed on the phone for hours sharing our stories, our dreams, our disappointments and any other topic we could discuss that would keep us from hanging up. I felt the sparks, I even smacked my phone a few times just in case it was the battery going berserk, but I did feel the sparks. I needed to meet this guy.

It’s Saturday night and here he comes. I can hear his car rolling down my gravel driveway and I’ll admit I was nervous. I hid behind the curtains in the window to take a sneak peek. I was immediately relieved…..He’s tall! I’m a tall gal myself, almost 5’10” and with heels I occupy a higher altitude than most ladies. But don’t worry, all his other physical attributes were perfect too .

Once he started approaching my house, I stepped outside to greet him and he smiled with his cornflower blue eyes and instantly something strange happened. The birds started chirping, the sunlight sparkled through the trees like glitter floating on the air and I swear I heard sappy chick flick music playing softly from somewhere. It’s as if my heart, soul, mind and body let out a lifelong held breathe and whispered to him ” there you are”.

Pretty sappy huh? Yes, I’m a romantic at heart but little did I know in the near future I would have the scariest moment of my life since moving to ATL.

Chad had made reservations for dinner at a restaurant that was across town and we were in the car heading that way. I was nervously sitting in the passenger seat and Chad reached over to hold my hand. It was so sweet and I could sense he was nervous too. Suddenly a car goes speeding past us so fast I could actually feel the car rock a bit like a sailboat on the ocean. Another car passes us but in the other lane, then another, and yet I can feel our car slowing down. I cautiously glance over at the driver’s side and look at the speedometer and I see that Chad is only driving at 35 mph. We’re on I285 in Atlanta traffic and he’s only doing 35 mph!

We’re gonna die tonight!

This evening started so magically and just a bit earlier I saw my future in his eyes now my life is flashing before my eyes and I’m preparing to meet my maker. Ever so calmly I say, ”Chad, you may want to speed up a bit cause these other cars out here are gonna run us over”. So he sped up and we were laughing about it while he reached out to hold my hand again. The restaurant was still several miles away and I had to continually prompt Chad to speed up. I’ll confess, I wasn’t sure I’d survive the trip.

Luckily we made it to the restaurant without incident and it was a wonderful evening. Chad did safely return me back home and once he finally left, I called my friend Tami and woke her up to say….” I just went on my last first date…I met my husband tonight”.

This love for Chad was instant and it’s lasted for what will be 20yrs this October. We may have only first met that night but I felt like I’ve known him forever. I’m truly blessed because Chad is the most genuine, big hearted man I know. He possesses a quiet confidence that keeps me grounded. I can only guess what the next 20 years will be like because I just don’t know.