It's Valentine's Day on Sunday. For many couples it is a time to celebrate love.
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A colleague mentioned that he was going to mark the day of love for all the readers of the newspaper he edited by asking couples to share their love story. The idea hit a romantic note for me.
Firstly, who doesn't need to celebrate a little romance in the wake of the past year? Secondly, I realised I could kick start the conversation with my own romantic story about finding the love of my life.
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It took a car crash and four years for my husband and I to go from our first meeting to the day we started dating. Yes it was a slow burn.
My husband was an 18-year-old apprentice carpenter and I was a 17-year-old in my final year at school. At the time my family lived in the residence above the hotel my parents were managing in Bomaderry. That hotel was located about an hour's drive, on what was then a terrible road, from where my future husband lived in Ulladulla.
Once a month my yet-to-be betrothed would travel that terrible road to and from Ulladulla to Bomaderry so that he could meet his week-long TAFE commitment. Unfortunately... or in retrospect I should say fortunately... he crashed his car on one of those trips. At that point his worried mother urged him to find somewhere to stay while he was completing his monthly TAFE.
Someone recommended the hotel my parents ran, enquiries were made and the price was deemed perfect for a young man on apprentice wages. It became my husbands home away from home, once a month for the next year.
There was an instant attraction between myself and the new border and we became great friends, but it wasn't for another four years, shortly after my 21st birthday, that we started dating.
Once he completed his apprenticeship he moved more than five hours drive away to a place near Wagga Wagga. We stayed in contact by writing letters. He travelled those five hours to attend my 21st birthday. Within two months (nothing moved quickly with us) we were officially an item, although we were still living five hours apart. The letter writing increased and monthly catch ups were planned.
A year later we were engaged and it was only one more year until we were married and, finally, living at the same location. We are coming up to our 31st wedding anniversary next month and I couldn't be happier.
What is your love story? Please share here.
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