Per rcn48's request...
"Anita, start a new thread - "How I met" and maybe, just maybe, I'll tell you my story :) "
How I Met
Well it was going to be a special posting in light of the fact that it's Valentines Day and all, but it's going to have to wait until tomorrow. Hoping to hear how everyone else met in the meantime :)
Dena, My heart goes out to you for your loss. What a wonderful story of loss and rebirth.
I've known my wife (Anita too) since I was 16. Had a crush on her but she was dating a friend of mine. We became best friends and remained so for 17 years, through each other's boyfriends and girlfriends, then each other's spouses and divorce. We were the model people referred to as a platonic male/female relationship.
Then, in a moment, it changed. Next month will make 17 years.
that's nice - you actually found your soul mate...your lid. cool! I love it!
Is that it? One nice story from (not) Dave.
Hey I'm single, the best I could do is tell you how I found Sidekick Sarah.
Andy P
it's a match made in heaven Andy - please do tell!
I guess rcn was just teasing us.
I guess so - I was looking foward to another good story
well, since i'm new let me add mine.
i have know my wife debbie, (real name is geraldine) all my life. we grew up down the block from each other in brooklyn n.y. her parents were best man and maid of honor for my parents. her mother is my god mother.
been married now for 38 years
Another Lid! I think that's great! Brooklyn to Wappingers Falls - was the summer place at one time?
Lid?? Sorry, don't know that one.
oh...my grandmother always said the every pot has it's lid..a metaphor for soulmates - or something to that effect.
Oh, my. A Lid. That's so sweet.
I'm off to take my 3 yo to ice skating but I have a story for y'all if you're still interested. ;-)
LoraB.
absolutely!
OK, I can't let this thread languish any longer.
How I met my Sidekick Sarah.
A couple weeks after my previous dog, Lucy, passed away I started looking.
The first place was the local MSPCA here in town. There were a few dogs but none that were right for me. I had learned my lesson and was not looking for a 'pretty' dog, just a good one. Under 50 pounds, short hair, well behaved and at least one year old.
Sierra was there that first day. It was her first day of availability and she was fearful, overweight and looked too much like a Pit Bull for me.
I spent 2 weeks searching at all the shelters within 30 miles of home, checking in at this MSPCA every few days. During this time I asked about Sierra and found her to have been kept either in the garage or a crate in the basement at her previous home. She also was recovering from a broken leg, no cast but a steel pin in the left rear femur.
Every time I asked about another dog the attendant would ask me "Why that dog, Sierra is the dog for you".
At the end of this period I had taken her for a little walk (almost yanked my arm off), sat and played and generally gotten to know her. I then asked a friend to accompany me to the most distant shelter which turned out to not have anything of interest. This was a Saturday so we stopped in at Sierra's shelter for my buddy's opinion of her. This shelter was busy and most pens were occupied, I knew that Sierras days were numbered.
We were in a play room and she sat on my foot, looking up at me. It was apparent she had chosen me. When I told the attendant I'd take her, she asked 'What took you so long, she's yours for the asking, no charge." I was shocked, the adoption fee is $100.
She gladly jumped in the back seat of the car and has been a joy ever since.
I changed her name a bit because Sierra was not right for her, IMHO. I put her on a diet and lowered her weight by 10% to a healthy 48 pounds, had the steel pin removed from her leg, too.
My vet assures me that I saved her life, nobody would have adopted her.
That's it in a nutshell.
Andy P
That might be the sweetest story of all! Good job Andy (and Sarah)!
Dave
Thanks Dave, That's the longest post I've done here, I think.
I'm usually brief.
Andy P
Andy after your major effort to post such a wonderful story, I'm thinking it's time for me to bite the bullet and get busy typing :) Didn't mean to make everyone wait so long, but trying to figure out how I could make this short and sweet - I'll give it a whirl...
Back in 1996, when I was still dreaming of my own nursery in Maine, I used to frequent the Garden Chat on AOL. Wonderful, small group of people back then but there was one person who caught my attention :) This gentleman and I just seemed to click - he had owned his own nursery since 1981 and offered me a ton of advice in getting my nursery established. He had a great sense of humor and we had a mutual interest in nature and wildflowers. There was even a small group of us who would meet in a private chat room and play a wildflower "guessing game". One of the wildflowers that we discussed was Downy Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens) and this intrigued me because by all reports it should have been growing in my woods with the numerous other wildflowers I had growing. This "gentleman" used to tease me because he said I just couldn't find it! In the spring of 1997, this same "gentleman" stopped posting in Garden Chat and alot of changes in my life forced me to no longer participate as much anymore as well. My father was diagnosed with lung cancer that spring and passed away in February of 1998. Losing him devastated me - because we were very close and because he was going to play a significant part in opening my nursery :( My 25 yr marriage was failing and I soon gave up all hope of the nursery. Then - one morning in February of 1999, I was checking my email and an instant message popped up from someone I didn't recognize - however it didn't take me long to figure out who it was - No hi, hello or how are you doing - only "Have you found that Rattlesnake Plantain yet?" I nearly fell out of my chair! Yes, it was my friend from Garden Chat! I felt like a school girl, giddy and nervous, because this man had stirred something in me two years prior and he was again popping out of nowhere! We chatted online for a short time and promised to catch up with emails. It took me two weeks to write him but when I did, we became closer friends than ever and I decided it was time to visit my best friend who lived in Virginia. She had moved from Maine almost 15 years before and coincidentally lived only an hour away from this gentleman! Well, long story short - I visited my "gentleman" (Rick) while in Virginia and we knew we had each found our "soul mate" :) Nine months later I moved to Virginia, started working with Rick at his nursery, and in 2002 we were married! We found a small little church in the Blue Ridge Mountains for the wedding with the most beautiful natural setting - and a stream on the property was filled with wild blue Forget-me-Nots - my father's favorite flower :) I made all the floral arrangements for the ceremony and even made Rick's boutonniere with leaves of the Downy Rattlesnake Plantain to surprise him :) Well, the surprise was on me because he showed up with one he had made himself to surprise me!!!
And in Andy's words - "that's it in a nutshell"
Debbie
That was definitely my favorite, Andy. Reminds me of when I adopted my cats [who have since passed on]. I wanted 2 cats so that they would be company for each other when I wasn't home. Everyone told me to get female cats. When I went to check them out, there was only 3; 2 girls and a boy. Well the boy just looked at me as if to say, "Please don't leave me all alone!" Well, Midnite, as I named him, was the best friend a girl could have. He was always right next to me. Waited in the window for me to come home, gave the best hugs, stroked my cheek with his paw if I was upset or sad, tried to keep me warm if I was sick and was always there to listen. Don't get me wrong - the girls were my babies too, but there was definitely something different about Midnite - half the time I think he thought he was a dog! Broke my heart when I had to put him down. So much so that I found it difficult to have another. I decided to turn my love to my plants [doesn't hurst as much if they die], which, by the way I couldn't have with Midnite, 'cause he ate every plant I ever brought into the house!!!
RCN - you beat me to the click!! What a wonderful story!! You found your lid too!!! I love it!!
This message was edited Feb 19, 2006 9:04 PM
Debbie, that's a fabulous story.
Trying to put a story into a neat 'package' takes some thinking.
That was great, Thanks.
I feel all warm and fuzzy.
Andy P
Nice story Debbie!
You and Dena & I all have had an old friend make love more wonderful the second time around!
Andy too!
Dave
Wow, were you guys "waiting in the wings" for me? LOL
Debbie, there is this "watch thread" feature, you know.
LOL :)
Debbie, I have been holding my breath since you promised this story 5 days ago! It was a relief to get to inhale.
Dave
LOL - I agree, I thought we were never going to hear it!
I know, I know - it was just difficult to find the right words :) It's not something I easily share - got alot of grief from a few people - one of those internet relationships!
Love is good, no matter where we find it!
anitabryk - summer place?, not really. stopped in queens first than to upstate.
ahh..I knew many people from the city used to have summer homes - come in CT, some out here on the island by me and others upstate.. I thought maybe you had deaded that way 'cause your parents took you up there for the summers.
Dave, you are so right :)
Anita, Wow! You really are losing it!
"maybe you had deaded that way 'cause your parents "
Herbie, I'd watch out if I were you!
LOL - oops...headed that way...
well, what do you want??? It was at 6:30am...the coffee hadn't kicked in yet...it was probably as sign that I should have been off today!!!