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| Photo by: findingthenow |
From Denise: The "Love Found Me" series continues with a post from my friend, Tim Gallen. I had the opportunity to connect with Tim for the first time last year and have gotten to know him through an online writing community. He is a talented writer, especially where fiction is concerned, and I'm honored to have him as my guest this week!
When I was born, I spent my first few
days of life in intensive care. As my parents always tell it, something was
wrong, but after several days they never figured out what it was.
Nearly 30 years later - and despite
what others might consider to be off about me - I’m confident the condition
that went undiagnosed was a misplaced heart.
You see, my heart’s never really been
under my left breast. Rather, I entered the world with my heart on my sleeve.
No wonder I’m a lifelong hopeless
romantic.
Until I met her, I dwelled a goodly amount of time on finding the love of my life.
But the thing is, the harder I tried the farther I got from finding love. Not that I tried that hard, mind you. I was no smooth operator when it came to the ladies. I am shy, odd, nerdy, and not always good at small talk. But I tried, with limited success.
But it wasn’t until I essentially gave up looking that the woman I had been hoping for fell into my lap. Or, more accurately, my inbox.
Love found me surfing the Internet. And I've never been happier.
Have you ever seen one of those eHarmony commercials where the man and woman take turns talking about the other? That could be the story of my life. My wife and I met on eHarmony.
We connected over my passion for dental hygiene.
One of the questions on eHarmony’s profile asks to name three things you are passionate about. Honestly, I don’t remember the first two, other than that they were serious things. But for the third one, I wrote that I was passionate about brushing my teeth.
When my wife and I first connected via the dating site, she mentioned that answer had made her laugh.
I've been making her laugh ever since.
This may sound horrible of me, but I don’t recall what specific item from Nicole’s profile or answers entangled me. I think it was more a combination of everything. She entangled me with everything that is her - her passion, love, character, beauty, and faith. Since our first connection, I have found it easy to be myself with her.
Isn't that what love is all about? We spend inordinate amounts of energy to reflect an aura of perfection. We do our best to ensure the world only sees our best face.
But love strips away all the pretentious masks we insist on wearing. Love leaves us naked and vulnerable. Yet, instead of scorn or disdain, love sees us for all we are and embraces and cherishes us anyway.
I am not perfect. Like everyone else, I have flaws and foibles. I make mistakes. But my wife loves me anyway.
Love found me online. And I am so grateful.
How did love find you? Share your story in the comments!
I also met my husband online. Although it was an accident. There was a website called College Club, like My Space for college students, and he posted on a forum there about the next big fighter in hockey. In the description he said something like, "If you're just going to say that fighting shouldn't be in hockey, put on your skirt and leave." I called him out on it and we became great friends. We emailed each other every day for like 3 years before we started dating. We met each other in person for the first time a few weeks after we started dating.
ReplyDeletethat's awesome, andrea! in my introverted way, i've always found it easier to connect initially with people online. by the time my wife and i first met in person we already knew each other on a deeper level, which made it much more memorable and a lot less awkward. :-)
ReplyDeleteI love that you two have such great stories!! My online dating stories are not good ones. Lol
ReplyDeleteI met my husband online too! We met on ChristianMingle.com, though at the time it was called Relationships.com. I got this message on MySpace from a christian group I was in about joining a christian dating site. At the time, I hated men. :P But I joined anyway to prove that dating sites didn't work. I met my fair-share of odd and interesting people on there, and just as I was about to deactivate my account, I got a message from this guy in Michigan named Stephen. He was really cute and sweet, and before I know it we're messaging on MySpace and email.
ReplyDeleteTurns out, Stephen got that exact same message from that MySpace christian group to join that dating site. And like me, he was about to give up his account, until he decided to search a 1000 mile radius of where he lived. And he found me, who lived 983 miles away in Rapid City, South Dakota. Three months after we met online, and after a long awaited permission from my dad, I flew up to the U.P. of Michigan to meet this guy. And the rest, you could say, is history.
well, in retrospect, i bet they're pretty entertaining stories, denise! :-)
ReplyDeletethat's awesome, kelsey! my wife and i were long distance, too. i was in phoenix and she was in elkhart, indiana. and, like you, she took the trip out here to meet me a few months after we were matched. two years later, we were married.
ReplyDeleteThat' hilarious. I met my wife the first day of a new job. She was going to introduce me to her sister, but decided to keep me for herself.
ReplyDeletehaha! I love that, Larry! that is too funny!
ReplyDeletesent from tim's iPhone
Thank you all for sharing your stories. It's been fun hearing how love found each of you. :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, some of them are definitely entertaining. I wouldn't change the experiences I had at all.
ReplyDeletefunny how life does that, you know? today's dramas become tomorrow's comedies.
ReplyDelete