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Penpal Romance

Sometimes it works.

By Cherie Williams AndersonPublished 5 years ago 3 min read
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In 1994, I joined a group called Down Home Singles, I was living in Nashville, TN. at the time and tired of the dating scene. About a week after joining I received my first letter from a gentlemen in Richmond,VA. We started writing each other through the service at first, for safety. That changed after the first week at a dollar a letter since we were writing daily. It got to the point, that I knew my mail carrier by his first name, I lived for those letters. Smelling of gravity cologne. He was 29 years old working on a military base and looking for a long term relationship. We wrote for 8 months when he finally got the nerve to call me. We talked for a little while and made plans to meet. I was going to fly to Richmond to see him for his vacation, in April and my ticket was bought. I was so excited and counting the days.

When the day came and my mom freaked out, thinking he could be someone other than who he claimed and begged me not to go, how could I? At the last minute, with no advance purchase, he bought a ticket and came to see me instead. I booked him a hotel room and I was there to pick him up at the airport. My mom and sister were waiting in the car since they were taking us to get a car to use while he was in town.

We stopped at a cafe on the way, to get a drink and we were standing by the car and he asked if he could kiss me... After doing so he said he had been wanting to do that all day. From then on he held my hand in the back seat. We went that day to music row and walked around and then back to the hotel. The airline had lost his luggage and I offered to take his clothes back to my place and wash them. So I told him to go in the bathroom and undress, drop his clothes outside the bathroom door and I would take them and in the morning I would call before coming and he could unlock the door and I could bring his clothes and wait in the car while he changed. We did that every night that he was here. To this day his luggage has never been found, but we got a free airline ticket out if the deal.

When he went home, he promised to call me every day and he made good on that promise and we continued to write. He came back to see me again in July bringing me a t-shirt that said Virginia is for lovers and a ring. He proposed that trip. I trained my sister to take over my position at work. George bought my airline ticket and paid off my bills, so that I could come to him, leaving behind no responsibilities.

When I got off the plane he was standing there with red roses and telling me he thought he had found us an apartment, only it was brand new and wouldn't be ready for 3 more days. We had to stay in his parents pool house. When we moved into our own apartment it was great. We were supposed to get married one year from the date we started writing which would have been Sept. 6, 1995 but it turns out we couldn't wait that long and decided to get married on August 8, 1995. Everyone, friends and family alike, all said we would never last and we told them all when we renewed our vows on our 20th anniversary, (photo above) we would be sure to invite them all. It's been 23 years and we did invite them all, however most of them were divorced.

So to those of you who have doubts about someone else's relationship, instead of voicing those doubts maybe instead try to be positive and wish them all the luck in the world without following it up with the words you are going to need it.

marriage
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