A Love Story, 25 Years In The Making

Twenty-five years (September 1, 1991) ago I drove North East with my good friend and her cousin. We were going to a tiny place called Seton Portage, where her other cousin, her husband, and their son lived.

We stayed in a motel which was right beside their house trailer and across from the bar/restaurant. Did I mention this place was tiny?

I wasn’t a real bar person so while they were all having drinks and playing pool, I sat over on the other side doing what I love to do, people-watching!

I walked up to the bar and there was a guy stocking the beer cooler and I asked for a root beer. We had a 5 or 10 minute conversation with the usual small-talk questions. We found out that we were both from the Lower Mainland. He was up helping his sister and brother-in-law who had just bought the bar. I said I was visiting friends and he knew the family well. I told him I was a technical writer and I guess he was hopeful until I said, “for the Provincial Government”. He was a computer programmer writing an accounting program and needed a manual. But he figured with me working for the government he couldn’t afford me so never mentioned it.

That was about it. To be honest, I totally forgot about the meeting and I believe he did too.

Skip ahead one year to September 1992. I had left the government and was doing freelance work. A guy I had met through the local Technical Institute where I was taking some classes told me he knew someone who was looking for a writer to help him with a project. I called and booked a time to meet. It turned out the project was a computer manual for a custom accounting program. I was really excited because I hated every manual out there and figured I could write the perfect one – something that people could both understand and not fall asleep while reading.

We met with no recollection of the happenings of a year before and I agreed to do the work. As I was leaving, I noticed a map on his computer and he said he was working on a website for Seton Portage. I said I had been there and it all came back for both of us!

Skip forward to October 1993. I had just got married and received a call from the guy asking if I could do an update on the manual as he had revised his program. I apologized saying we were just going on our honeymoon and also my computer was not working.

Skip to the end of August 1998. I was on a disability pension; however,I needed extra work to pay the bills. I got in touch with the programmer and he needed someone one day a week to do bookkeeping. It was in line with how much I could make per month on my pension and helped out with finances.

I ended up leaving my marriage and continued working for the programmer. In fact, he and his two partners (also brilliant programmers) made me a managing partner in their web development/hosting business. You see I was used to working with programmers and the public! The four of us became great friends.

My divorce was finalized in February of 2001. The programmer and I had started to have feelings for each other but we kept it low key because even though I was separated, my faith kept me from having a relationship with someone else. After the divorce he let me know how he felt and I reciprocated, adding that I was never going to marry again.

Easter was in April of that year and I was heading to church when a car t-boned me in an intersection. I was wedged in the car and had to be pried out with the jaws of life. The programmer sat for three hours in the waiting area of the hospital not knowing how serious my injuries were. When he took me home and got me settled, he said that while he was sitting there the thought of losing me was torture. He said he wasn’t prepared (read in “no ring”) but would I marry him. The joke here is it took morphine to make me say yes but I truly meant it. For the first time in my life, I felt truly loved.

We were supposed to get married in June of the following year, however, a multitude of situations changed our minds and we quietly got married in our backyard with my sister, his best friend, a marriage commissioner and a squirrel looking for peanuts. The date was September 1, 2001 (if you are counting it is ten years to the day after that chance meeting).

The road has definitely not been a smooth one; however, the last couple of years have been the best of my life. Even the previous years have been wonderful because we may have fought, however, we grew from each and every battle into the loving couple we are today.

The programmer became not only my Hubby but my best friend, my love, and my rock. I thank the Lord every day for putting this truly wonderful man into my life. All of the challenges I face with health and emotional baggage have become so much easier to bear.

So Happy 25/15th Anniversaries, Honey. I will always and forever be your Babe.

Lydia!

PS I left out a lot of details, mainly because it would take you 25 years to read it all. I may share more in future posts.

(All images are royalty free from Graphic Stock unless otherwise noted)