Article Contributed on: 2/13/2007 5:04:04 PM
As an adult, my best friend
Kelli introduced me to some wonderful people. Kelli had worked with
Joanie years before and had remained friends even after Joanie's family moved to Colorado. Joanie and her husband
Keith would often travel to Ohio to visit family and would get together with Kelli and her husband Dale.
Since Kelli and I were best of friends, I ended up meeting Joanie and Keith and over the course of the next 6 or 7 years would join Kelli & Dale and Joanie and Keith for dinners, breakfasts, parties, etc when they were in Ohio.
One of Joanie and Keith's trips to Ohio was for an unfortunate happening. They had traveled to Ohio for an auction...Grandma's home and it's contents were being auctioned off. I went to the auction with Kelli and offered my love and support to Joanie and Keith and the rest of their family I had met over the years.
While at the auction, I was standing in the driveway by a table with items to be auctioned off and I looked over toward the barn. My eyes locked with a most handsome man and this feeling came over me literally from head to toe.
I pointed this guy out to Kelli and asked her if she knew who he was. She said "That's Joanie and Keith's son, Greg". I had grown to know and love his family over the years, but all this time, we had never met. Greg and I talked for a few minutes that day and he passed football with my 11 year old son while I visited with his family in their motor home.Greg and I were both married at that time.That was the first and last time we talked until 5 years later.
The feeling that came over me the first time I saw him and our eyes met was a once-in-a-lifetime feeling and every time I thought of him, I felt it. I knew nothing would ever come of it because we were both married to other people and lived across the country from each other. Of course I shared all of this with Kelli and she would often say it's too bad the way life works out because we would be perfect together. She would usually follow that up with "you never know what the future holds".
About five years later, Kelli's husband Dale was traveling with Miami University of Ohio's football team to play in Ft. Collins. Kelli and I decided to leave Ohio early to visit Joanie and Keith. They had plans to take us sightseeing over the course of the next several days and we all planned to go to the football game together the following weekend. Kelli and I landed, got our rental car and called Joanie and Keith to tell them we were on our way.
We got to their home to pick them up and Joanie advised before we started any sightseeing, we were meeting Greg for lunch. Just the thought of seeing him made me nervous. My marriage had ended and my divorce was just several months away from being final.
We met Greg in the parking lot of the restaurant.As soon as I saw him, the nervousness subsided and that overwhelming feeling hit me again from head to toe...like some heavenly experience where love and fulfillment comes over you and you feel blessed from above.
Greg and I talked over lunch and marveled at how our paths crossed numerous times throughout our lives but we never met.Greg and I grew up within15 miles of each other in Ohio (me at Madison High School and him at Miamisburg), ran cross-country and track against each other in high school, graduated the same year, both of us attended Bowling Green State University in Ohio...as a matter of fact, Greg worked in the cafeteria of my dorm at Mac East. But...we had never met until the day of the auction. We found out we had so much in common...music, our love of good red wine, our love for family and friends and so much more.
Over the next few days, Kelli and I traveled to various parts of Colorado with Greg's Mom and Dad, his sister Karen and her husband Kenny and their son Peyton. Later in the week, we were all invited to a cookout at Greg's home with his family. Again I had this same head-to-toe experience when I saw Greg. I shared it with Kelli and she of course said "you never know what the future holds".
Kelli and I returned to Ohio. My divorce was final and after a year or so I began dating. Every time I would go out to dinner or on dates more than 3 or 4 times with someone, Kelli would question me..."You really like this guy, don't you? or "Are you falling in love?...Well you'd better not.There's only one guy for you and we both know it!" My reply..."Kel, he's married and lives clear across the country in Colorado so it will never happen". Of course she would finish the conversation with "You never know what the future holds".
It had been almost a year and a half since I had seen Greg during our Colorado trip when I get a phone call from Kelli one day. She says "I have some good news and bad news. Which one do you want first?" I replied "Give me the bad news first". Greg's wife had asked him for a divorce and he and his entire family were devastated. Greg had two children who he adored. I said "You've got to be kidding me?
That's terrible!" I hated the thought of his family being so upset...these were people I had grown to love. I played right into Kelli's hand...I said "So, what's the good news?" to which she replied "GREG'S GETTING DIVORCED!" (this is in all caps for a reason...she was yelling her voice full of excitement!). That was in May of 2004.
In July, Kelli and I and several friends went on a girls' trip to Put-In-Bay in Ohio.Kelli and I were sitting at the little tiki bar at our hotel one evening and she dialed the phone..."Hello stud-muffin. Somebody wants to say hi to you." Of course I thought she was calling Dale. I take the phone..."Hey Handsome!" and I hear this voice and that same feeling washed through me. It was Greg.We talked and continued to talk and get to know each other by phone over the next few months.
Greg hikes the Pikes Peak Challenge in conjunction with the Brain Injury Association of Colorado each year in memory of his beloved brother Shaun who was lost to a brain aneurism. The Challenge is held annually in September. Kelli and I planned another trip to Colorado in September and Greg and I arranged to meet again. Greg's family and Kelli and I cheered him along and was at the finish line when he reached the summit. That was September 2004.The following day after the hike, we all traveled to Greg's parents' home in LaVeta. They have 35 acres of land, the most spectacular views of the Spanish Peaks and the most beautiful night sky lit up by countless stars...complete serenity. That evening, we all had dinner, talked and Greg and I sat outside talking about our pasts and our dreams for the future. It was like we had known each other all our lives.
I flew back to Colorado in October, Greg to Ohio in November, me to Colorado in December. We talked daily and missed each other so much. The strength of our love for each other was more than we ever imagined.
In early February 2005, Kelli and I were traveling to Colorado together again, this time driving...to be ahead of the moving trucks that had all my belongings.Greg and I were starting a life together.
We were married this past summer on August 12, 2006 at Greg's parents' home in the presence of our family and friends. Their home has so many special memories for us...it's where we first discussed our dreams and plans for the future...where we went to get away from it all...where we both relaxed and enjoyed time with each other. Together we created a rock path through the field, between the trees, opening up into this beautiful area Greg's Dad chose for us to be marriedwith a full view of the Spanish Peaks.
It was an outside wedding and no alternate plans were made in case of rain. Greg's Mom had arranged horses and a carriage to take our families out to the wedding site once all the guests had walked down the path and into the clearing.The sky was very overcast that day and the Spanish Peaks were covered with clouds. As we began loading onto the carriage, it began to rain. Once we got around to our wedding site and were getting offthe carriage,the rain stopped, the sky opened up and the Peaks were no longer covered in clouds. To top it all off, a beautiful double rainbow appeared.
That day the overwhelming feeling of love washed over all of us in that clearing.Some said the rain was Greg's brother Shaun's tears of joy falling from heaven because he knew Greg had found true happiness andsomeone who loved him with all her heart and soul. Others said the double rainbow was God's way of blessing our union Himself.Two of the photos attached show bluebeams of light shining down on us from the sky...one before our wedding during the rain and the other after our ceremony. In addition to the beams of light shining down on us in the photo after the ceremony, the cloud formation looks like angel wings.
It's a miracle that we could find each other over time and distance. When true love finds us...when the person we simply can't live without crosses our path and finds a home in our hearts,it's truly a gift from God and I thank Him every day for my husband Greg and the love we share.