Almost 30 years ago, Noel and I met. We were both dating someone, so friendship it was. We hung out often in the first year, but then, like most lives, we went our separate ways.
Life would bring us together every so often. Like I ran into Noel at a random Tavern once during a festival/party. We were both surprised to see each other. We ended up walking around all night catching up on life. At the end of that randomness, we again went our separate ways, for both of us still had someone in our lives.
Then Facebook came along. You know how that works, find people you haven't seen for goodness knows how long, and hope they'll still talk to you or remember you. I added him as a friend, and he accepted. We stayed in contact periodically. I would invite him to parties, but he never attended. But then, in 2021, he came to my End of the Summer Party, and I couldn't have been more thrilled. We were still only friends.
Life for me was a bit shaky, I was making some major life changes. Life for him was also changing. A year after the party, we started leaning on each other for advice and comfort.
We finally allowed ourselves to bring down some of those walls we both built over time. We fell in love, hard!
I left my old life behind to start a new one with Noel. My son and I moved in with Noel Jan of 2023.
During that first summer together, we went on vacation. We traveled down to Tennessee and then to the Carolinas. We saw some beautiful sites and got to meet our forever friends. We ended our vacation on Murrell Inlet in South Carolina for about a week. A couple of days after getting there, we were on the beach to take a walk at sunrise. Right there with the sun just over the horizon and the ocean winds gusting, Noel got down on one knee and proposed. I was so giddy, thrilled, and just so happy that this was actually happening. Of course, my answer was absol-flippin-lutly!!! Best moment ever for both of us.
Now here we are almost to the date of forever, we are so excited and so in love. Noel and I never thought that we would be the ones together. It was unexpected not searched for, but it found us. I love this man beyond the stars. We are soulmates, friends, and partners from now until forever!