Our love story & how it very nearly didn't happen

I thought that as it's Valentine's Day I would be romantic and blog my Love Story.

It was early 2003 and despite recently coming out of a bad relationship I was still thinking ahead to my future. I knew that I wouldn't meet someone through friends as they were a few years younger than me and had the kind of lifestyles that I wasn't looking for.

I thought I'd give internet dating a go. I'd heard all the horror stories, but I'd also heard about the lucky ones. I didn't feel as though I had anything to lose.

I posted a profile and sat back and waited. I had a few replies but some never got past a few emails but there was one that stood out. He was in the same situation as me but had a bit more baggage which nearly put me off but the tone of his emails kept me interested.

We emailed each other almost daily for a few weeks and then he asked to phone me. I sat in all night waiting and waiting and waiting. Nothing. Let down again. After a couple of days I got a message apologising for the lack of call but he'd been invited out at the last minute and forgotten that he was meant to call me. I was already in an unforgiving huff by then so decided to ignore his emails and texts. Looking back I can see how childish that was but I wasn't prepared to be with another man who would let me down time & time again.

Later that year I had a text from a number I recognised but didn't know where from. I think it asked how I was. I replied asking 'Who is this?' Nigel replied and I decided to give him a second chance. It turns out that he very nearly didn't send the text. He came across my number and thought he would try once more. Second chances all round! It was clearly meant to be.

A couple of days later we decided to meet. I'd seen a photo of him (not the most flattering!) but he'd not seen a photo of me. I was panicking that he would see me and run! We met outside the gardens in the centre of the town I lived in, one of my favourite places to spend time. As soon as I walked towards him I knew that  he was worth the wait. We had planned on going to the cinema but rather than sitting somewhere not being able to talk we decided to walk around the gardens and I showed him my favourite spots. We then sat in one of the pubs in the town and talked and talked for hours with ease. There were no awkward pauses. It was a wonderful evening. 

We then spent every spare moment together, which wasn't easy,  and soon knew that we were in love. After 3 months we moved in together and 2 weeks after that I discovered I was pregnant. We both wanted children and didn't want to wait too long but we didn't expect it to happen quite so quickly! To some it may have seemed like a rebound relationship particularly as it all happened with such speed but here we are nearly 8 years later, married with 3 beautiful children and we're in it for the long haul.