24 years ago I dated a man who was home from Notre Dame where he was working on a phd in economics. I met him at a concert and we started talking in the parking lot. I gave him my number and he called a week later. We dated continually during the summer and when it came time for him to return to Notre Dame, he asked me to marry him.
Although I loved him, I had a good career in Kansas City and didn't believe in long distance romance, so I told him no. He asked me again and I told him no, not now. I told him I could see us in the future together, when we were much older, but not at this time. I also told him that I had a dream where we were supposed to marry somebody else but we would be together in the future. Although he protested, I remained firm. I told him if we were meant to be, we would reconnect somewhere down the road. He called me a couple of times after we broke up but I refused to see him. After that we lost touch.
Well, he did meet somebody a couple of years later and married her in 191. He received his phd and moved to South America to teach. A few months later in 1992, I got married and we remained in Kansas City. We were together for 14 years when we divorced.
Throughout the years, I thought about my summer love of 1987. It was amazing how much I remembered of the young man I had dated. I could remember his aroma, the way his skin felt against mine, the way he tasted, the way our hearts seemed to merge and meld together when we held each other. By this time the world had internet and I started googling his name with no results. Unknown to me, he had also googled me several times and couldn't find me.
In early December of 2009, I woke up one morning and I smelled his scent. I spoke his name out loud and I felt him come to me and embrace me. His love overwhelmed me and I knew without a doubt that I would find him.
I got up, poured myself a cup of coffee and fired up my computer. On the first search I found him. He was just 2. 5 hours away in a little town in southern Missouri. I called his office and was told by his secretary that he was not in that day but would be in the next to give finals. I asked her for his voicemail and when she connected me, I left a message asking him if he remembered me. I told him I would enjoy catching up and to please call me if he felt like it.
The next day he called. It was a fabulous conversation--totally at ease. He was still married with no children and had been separated from his wife for close to 3 years. We agreed to meet to catch up on old times. January 2010 was a rough winter but he was finally able to get to Kansas City. When he stepped out of his car we hugged each other and it was as if we had never been apart. We stayed in the parking lot for quite a while clinging to each other until I asked him to come inside. He stayed the weekend at my apartment and slept in my spare bedroom.
When he returned home, he immediately contacted his estranged wife and told her he wanted a divorce which was not an easy thing to do since he is Catholic. She is Catholic too and so she fought it tooth and nail. It seemed as if the divorce proceeding would never end. Believe it or not, we told God that we wanted to get married on December 30th and we hoped that would be the case. The divorce was granted last November and after the obligatory one month waiting period for the divorce to be finalized, we were married.
Winters in Kansas City are never predictable but we asked the universe to give us a beautiful day for an outdoor ceremony. The temperature was in the 70's on December 30th the day we got married although we got married in the courthouse because we didn't feel like paying a minister $400.00 to $600.00 to marry us. Btw, it stayed warm well into the night. It started cooling off as soon as our reception was over.
Next year we plan to celebrate our 25th anniversary because we felt that our hearts and souls never disconnected from each other although our physical bodies did.
Sometimes I am ashamed at how I used to giggle 24 years ago when he would tell me he thought we were soul mates. You see, I didn't believe in that sort of nonsense at the time. Now I realize just how silly I was because I believe with all my heart that I am his soul mate and he is mine.