Sunday, February 14, 2010

Moments In Time: Call it Fate



Welcome to Classic Romance Revival’s Blog Carnival, Moments In Time! The wonderful authors of CRR are so glad to welcome you. CRR is a group of authors who write sweet to sensual romance with no graphic sex or violence. You can visit CRR at www.classicromancerevival.com.

To celebrate Valentine's Day, the CRR authors are sponsoring a blog carnival. Each blog owner is offering a prize, so visit as many as blogs as you can. (Read on for details of my prize.) Winners for the grand prize - a 5-ARC package from Classic Romance Revival authors - will be drawn from visitors commenting on the most blogs. To qualify for the grand prize, you need to register for the contest. Please visit the Classic Romance Revival blog to find details of all the blogs and to register. That address is http://www.classicromancerevival.com/blog/?p=1671&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ClassicRomanceRevival+%28Classic+Romance+Revival...%29

Thanks for coming, and here’s my Moment in Time.

Call it fate. Call it destiny. I don’t care what term you use. All I know is that from the first moment I saw him I knew that our futures were linked.

It happened the summer after I graduated from high school. My mother had gotten me a job in the place where she worked, and after finishing my shift I was eager to get home. I had a date that night and wanted to shower and change before I went out. Okay, maybe have a date is a little bit of an understatement. We’d been going out for almost a year, and he’d been throwing out hints that he’d like our relationship to be a little more permanent. I told him I had college ahead of me, but he said he was willing to wait.

My friend Pam and I were waiting together for the final buzzer to sound when this guy who had reported for work on the second shift called to her. He wasn’t especially tall, maybe five ten or so with dark, wavy hair and beautiful sun kissed skin. He was wearing a tee shirt so I couldn’t help noticing those nice shoulders of his.

Pam introduced us. It turned out that he was her boyfriend’s brother. This was a surprise because for some reason I had gotten the impression that her boyfriend was an only child. Guess the joke was on me because there were four children in the family.

Anyway, for the rest of the summer we’d talk a little bit right before I left for the day. We never said anything really important, and he never asked me out, but each and every time we spoke the feeling of destiny grew stronger.

Both of us went away to Clemson University that fall. We saw each other a couple of times during the school year. Each and every time we did his eyes sparkled like blue sapphires. My friend Pam told me she’d given him my number, but he never called. Still, I couldn’t forget him.

Time passed. Near the end of my freshman year I broke up with my boyfriend. Things hadn’t been going well for some time, so it was a relief to end the relationship. I made sure he knew it. It took him a month or so to work up the courage to call me. We went on a picnic, and after that we were inseparable. He was everything I’d been looking for and more besides. We complemented each other in so many ways!

We had two years together at Clemson before he graduated. I missed him so much that I took extra courses and finished school a semester early so we could get married. Two sons and four grandchildren later we’re still together and looking forward to retirement. Of course this is the real world so he drives me crazy from time to time. He’s a man, isn’t he, but I wouldn’t trade him for anything.

As I was writing this blog I asked him why it took him so long to call me. He said it was because I intimidated him. After much coaxing he finally explained. He said he was shy, and he knew that I’d dated more than he had so he was scared to ask me out. Isn’t that sweet?

I like to tell our story near or on Valentine’s Day, mostly to show that there are happy endings in the real world just as there are in my novels. Honestly, I doubt that my characters could overcome the obstacles they do if in my heart I wasn’t a hopeless romantic who got her happy ending.

Now it’s your turn. Leave a comment telling me how you met your significant other, and you’ll be entered in a drawing for an ecopy of my Wild Rose Press novel Purple Heart. Fallen Angel Reviews gave Purple Heart a five angel review which said in part: ‘This is one poignant story I could read again and again.’

24 comments:

  1. I can't remember if I've shared this story with you before, Elaine, but here goes. When I was working at the local paper, the graphic designer told me her ex-brother-in-law had won tickets to a Britney Spears concert from a Pepsi bottle cap. Rather than go to the concert -- with all those screaming kids -- he opted to take the cash prize instead. She thought it would be a great story for the paper, so I agreed to interview him. The rest, shall we say, is history! That was in 2002 and we were married in 2003!

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  2. This is *such* a beautiful story. Thanks so much for sharing it.

    I met my love at a bagpipe competition. I saw him compete and fell in love with him immediately, but he was older than me and I assumed nothing would come of it. I told my best friend about it, but swore her to secrecy (which she ignored). I had gone off to change clothes in my her mum's car, and Meg sent him looking for me. And when he found me, he tried to give me a hug (because she told him I needed one), but I was so caught off-guard (or so twitterpated) that my knees buckled and I fell backwards and he fell on top of me--full kilt dress and all. Right then, my friend's mum came out and found us like that and hustled us all away, saying what a mean and nasty boy that was. Haha. It makes me laugh just to think about it.

    We started writing letters after that, and I've been in love with him since I was 13 years old. And 18 years later, he still makes my knees buckle. :-)

    Ah, Happy Valentine's Day! :-)

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  3. I have no stories to share but I have enjoyed everyone's posts.

    Thanks for sharing.
    Tracey D

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  4. Those are nice stories. I really liked them. -Laura H.

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  5. Ladies, your stories are fascinating. Thanks for sharing with us.

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  6. He moved across the street from me

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  7. My hubby was first my sisters boyfriend. They weren't right for each other which everyone knew and didn't last very long but he hung around and I kind-of got attached to him so we got together with my sisters blessing I might add

    ------jennifer mathis

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  8. I met my hubby at work...he came in and we just started talking. He invited me out to dinner and I was a little leary as I hadn't dated much after my divorce. But I took a chance and said yes! He gave me a heart locket and I've worn it ever since, 30 years now!

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  9. Jo Ann, that is so sweet! Meandi, I know several people that things worked out that way. Peggy, I'm glad you didn't overlook the boy next door. Thanks for commenting everyone.

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  10. I met my hubby by his uncle and it was love at first sight. We were 16 and 17 when we married after dating 6 months and we celebrate 47 years this year. We were lucky..I sure don't recommend it today. ha susan L. I ask not to be included in the contest as I can not use ebook forms right now. I just wanted to add my comment to share with others.

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  11. Thank you, Susan. I'm so glad you stopped by, and it's nice to know that love can endure for a lifetime.

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  12. Great moment, Elaine!

    We met through friends over the phone from different states and were pre-engaged before ever meeting face to face.

    Just running through checking other carnival bloggers' moments. ;-)

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  13. Mine was very mundane, met him in the pub :)

    Cherry Mischievous
    www.cherrymischievous.com
    mischivusfairy-warrior [at] yahoo [dot] com

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  14. The short version is that my S.O., Kyle, and a mutual friend, Kimmi, were trying to hook me up with their then boss Matt. We all hung out at the pub, then went back to Kyle's place to watch some films. Me and Matt were not clicking that way--we're both too sarcastic, too cynical to really 'click'--but Kimmi and Kyle kept trying. In fact Kyle said only 3 words to me all night "Here's a cuddlefish".

    Kimmi goes off to Japan to be with her BF for Valentine's Day (he was stationed in Osaka) but she told the guys to take care of me since I usually spent Valentine's Day doing nothing. We all get together and surprising Matt got me two gifts--a plushie and chocolate. Kyle got me nothing. I got them chocolate roses. At the end of the night when we have to drive home, Kyle is worried about me. He orders me to instant message him when I got home.

    The next two weeks we spoke on IM, he invited me over three times (had to rescue me all three times, since I got horribly lost on the way to his house) and on Feb 29th, the day Kimmi came back from Japan and we were having a party for her, he finally kissed me. I asked him why he waited and he told me that he wasn't sure I liked him since I never wanted to hug him, hold his hand, kiss his cheek...

    We've been together 6 years now :D

    Lexie C.

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  15. My husband and I met when we were doing our military service.
    He was one of the more experienced guys in the group so treated with respect and a bit mysterious.
    It was not love at first sight, we weren't even sure we were that attracted to one another but we became friends.
    Now 20 years late I know he is the love of my life.

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  16. LK my sister married her husband in much the same way. Cherry, nothing about true love is mundane. Lexie, your story is so interesting. Eva, sometimes going slow is the best way.

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  17. Hi Elaine,
    It was inspiring reading your HEA story and those in the comments. As for me ~ no lifelong love, Boo~Hoo, Sniff, sniff and all that…
    I’ve had a few ‘almost-not-quite’ loves in my day. I’m 57, still single and still hoping, LOL. Meanwhile, I have many romance novels to read and then I dream! [Pray 4 me, fellow romantics! :-)]
    Sara J. ~ : - ]

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  18. Sara, as the poet said, 'the best is yet to be.'

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  19. Sara, as the poet said, 'the best is yet to be.'

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  20. What a great love story.. Fate sure did step up..

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  21. Sounds good to me! Thanks, Elaine!
    Sara J. ~ : ]
    sjr1groups@yahoo.com

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  22. I enjoyed reading how everyone met their significent others. My DH and I are high school sweethearts, believe it or not. We actually got together on the "unofficial" senior skip day at the beach. sureAnd are still together 37 years, 5 kids and 6 grandkids later.

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  23. Sorry, no current HEA right now. I met my ex through mutual friends and don't think he had a romantic bone in his body. He proposed by giving me the ring and saying that it was from a former fiance! That should've told me something. The position of "significant other" in my life is open and resumes with be reviewed upon receipt. Still hoping for a new HEA!

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  24. Sweet story. And part of what makes you great at romance, I'm sure.
    God Bless
    Rita

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