Thank you for sharing in our love story!

We met via a dating website for "well-aged" ladies and gents called Our Time! Dottie was just canceling her membership and Ron was just joining. Serendipitously, we coincided. Is it odd or is it God? He had no photo and no bio but yet he messaged me and I responded, "Who are you!" Then came a long message and we met for lunch at Rafferty's.

We dated a few months and Ron told me the tramp got the lady in the end. We had a good chuckle about it as we both felt we were an odd matchup, but still we were drawn to one another. One day we were driving in his 2003 Ram Pickup truck, and he looked over at me with that crinkly smile and said, "I'm gonna win your heart." What a romantic!

We decided we would date no other...

This was a long night as we sat in the warm mist in the outdoor patio of Taco City practically by ourselves. Ron was determined to pull my feelings for him out of me. This was a pivotal night for our relationship, one we look back on with laughter and with meaning. We had been moving very slowly in this friendship and this was the first night he grabbed my hand and wouldn't let go. So much so that we slid off the road in the rain and he still had ahold of my hand!

Okay, we'll keep it light because that's exactly what it was! I had Ron over for dinner and as he was leaving for the evening by my front door, he kissed me good night, paused and looked at me and said it. Simple. "I love you." I kind of smiled and chuckled and said, "I love you, too." And he smiled and turned and opened the door and left for his home.

No relationship is complete without the bumps and bruises of life and ours is no exception. Though, (thank you, God!) our issues were few. We've learned on this long road of life to communicate and trust and love. Most of the time! Ron handles things on his own, but I treasure the love & encouragement from my gal pals like Valerie, Pam, Chris B, Azucena, Dianne and Monday prayer group. Ladies, thank you from the bottom of my heart for being my cheer squad!

We definitely did things out of order. We talked about getting married for a few months. We decided we did want to commit to one another in the sacred union of marriage and spend the rest of our years loving & caring for one another. Here's the unconventional way we did it. We contracted to build a new home, then we picked out & purchased my engagement ring and our wedding bands. Then, Ron wanted the actual proposal to be a surprise and not expected. How was that even possible now that we had the rings! One night, he got down on his replaced knee, that one still hurts, so he got down on the other. That didn't work either so he sat in front of me on the sofa and held my hands, told me some tender-hearted feelings and asked me to marry him. I said, Yes…

The home we are building has been an event itself. Planning a wedding in four months is definitely something else! Most things were done with 100 days to go so we could relax and enjoy our new relationship status as betrothed. March 15, 2022 Time to send the "Save the Date" notifications March 25, 2022 The invitations arrived to mail out