My Personal Second-Chance Romance
I wrote this in my newsletter last year on the day before my anniversary. And since Iβm writing this post early because Iβll be away celebrating my twenty-fifth year of wedded bliss, Iβm reposting it here this year.
My first date with my now-husband was kind of a bomb.
Heβs four years older than me. When we met, I was in Grade 10 and had just started attending his home church. He had just returned home from a year at Bible college. I thought he seemed nice, but there was no reason for him to notice me, so I asked him to go to a movie together. (How bold! The scandal! And the movie was The Lion King, by the way. The original. Yep, Iβm that old.)
I came home and wrote in my journal that he was the type of man I wanted to marry someday. He later told me he thought weβd never go out again. (Ha!)
We didnβt actually get together for another six years. First, we got to know each other when we were the only two Canadians in an entire Indian province for five months. (Or at least the only two at the small Bible college we were volunteering at.) Then, it took another year of attending the same community college back home and hanging out on the regular before Jason finally got the idea that I was the type of woman heβd like to marry someday.
As one of my youth pastors used to say his wife had done to him, βI chased him until he caught me.β (Kidding! Kind of. I certainly βknewβ much sooner than he did. But once he was in, he was all in, and he let me know it.)
I think itβs safe to say that the whole thing has worked out. Yesterday, we celebrated twenty-four years of marriage. [2025 addition: Now twenty-five!] While our life together has held its share of both good and bad times, weβve always had each other. Weβve been each otherβs best friends, best advisers, and staunch supporters through thick and thin.
Yes, I absolutely know how lucky I am. (And so does he.)
So, if youβre wondering why I tend to write second-chance romances where the couple knew each other for years first?
Well, they do say to write what you know. πβ€οΈπ
As for which of my characters are the most like us... thatβs a story for another post.
In the mood for a second-chance romance? Check out my Peace Country Romance series. And my personal romance story isnβt the only real-life element behind the seriesβcheck out my post βFrom Peace River to Peace Crossing: The True Story Behind My Small-Town Romance Booksβ.
