If you ask Paul: I lost my wife of 30 years in February of 2023 after a long battle with cancer. My wife always said that I was going to find someone and fall in love again because I was not supposed to be alone. I never wanted to hear this and rejected the thought of being in love again. In January of 2024, I was very lost and had no purpose. I randomly searched for spouse grief on the internet. Griefshare popped up and I saw they had a class starting at a local church.

I decided to attend and see if it would help. I very apprehensively went into the church and immediately saw a beautiful woman sitting alone. I asked if I could sit at her table. She introduced herself as Stacy. We immediately started talking about our loss. She told me about her husband who she had been married to for nearly as long as I had been with my wife. I felt an immediate connection with Stacy. For the next several weeks we always sat next to each other. Sometimes it felt like we were in our own little world. It felt nice to share my feelings with someone who truly understood the grief I was experiencing.

One week I came in and Stacy was not at the meeting. I asked where she was, and the leader stated she had Covid. I couldn’t imagine how hard it must have been to be sick and all alone. I went home and was able to locate her on Facebook. I messaged her to ask if she needed me to get her any medicine or bring her some food. She eventually responded and told me she was feeling better, but she had been thinking about us grabbing some coffee or catching a movie.

I immediately called her, and we set up a coffee meeting at a local restaurant. We ended up talking for four hours. After we parted ways, I couldn’t believe how much I missed talking with Stacy. Over the next several weeks, we spent more time together, going to dinner and seeing movies. We had so much in common it was crazy!

It wasn’t until after she went on a trip with her parents for what seemed like a month that I realized how my feelings for her were changing beyond just friendship. I remember when I first saw her when she got back, I gave her a big hug and I instinctively kissed her on the cheek. I remember thinking “Oh no, I hope she wasn’t offended!” She didn’t say anything, just hugged me back.

Before we knew it, we were dating, and I could not think about not being with her. I know that our spouses got together in Heaven and had a part in us coming together. So, I guess my wife was right, I did find love again and I cant wait for the second chapter of my life with Stacy.

If you ask Stacy: On August 30, 2023 I lost my husband of 27 years. It felt like my whole world was falling apart. Each day that passed felt like I was moving in a hazy fog as I just went through the motions of trying to live a new life on my own. In January 2024 I joined a support group called GriefShare. I was so overwhelmed with sadness that I knew I needed to do something to try and move on. I met Paul that very first night. He asked if he could sit with me and asked who I had lost and how they had died. It felt so good to open up to someone who knew exactly what I was feeling. I asked about his loss as well. From that moment on we always sat together at the same table.

I missed a class about a month later due to Covid. When Paul found out I was sick he reached out to me via Facebook to see if I needed anything. It was the first time we communicated outside of our grief group. I responded and let him know that I was okay. I also asked him if he would like to exchange numbers so we could have a friend, outside of the group, to talk to. It was something I had been thinking about since the day I met him. He agreed, we exchanged numbers, and he called me about a minute later! We talked for over an hour. It was so easy and effortless. We made a coffee date for later in the week where we ended up hanging out and talking for almost 4 hours!

From that point on we saw each other 3-4 times per week. In May, I finally asked him if we were dating because it really felt like we were. We both came to the conclusion that we were, and we kissed for the very first time.

Everything about our relationship feels right. The last thing either of us wanted or expected to find was love. We are convinced that our spouses had a hand in putting us together.