I’ve always been the one to take care of everyone else. When I was a teenager, I regularly looked after half the neighborhood kids, so I got used to putting what I wanted and needed at the bottom of the pile. Looking back, it became an awful habit, compounded by the fact that I was pretty much a misfit at school.
So, yeah, I was insecure, and my self-confidence was more-or-less nonexistent. Add a series of boyfriends (emphasis on boy) who treated me like dirt and I just … gave up. Oh, I was still in love with the idea of romance, but not for me. I devoured romance novels like they were Hershey’s Kisses and I reread Jane Austen over and over, but I felt like my chances of finding my soul mate were slim to none. I was in my early thirties, after all; if I hadn’t found Mr. Right by now, it probably wasn’t going to happen.
Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t miserable. I come from a tight-knit if slightly annoying family, I got regular kid time with my three adorable nieces, and I had two of the best friends a single girl could ask for. Jess is like the little sister I always wanted, and Meg is the kind of person who gives you the pure, unvarnished truth (whether you want it or not).
But in my hopeless romantic heart, I still longed for what I believed I would never have. And, honestly, I wanted to be hopeful instead of hopeless, even if I was afraid to ask for it.
It turns out, I didn’t have to ask. We all have those moments that change everything, right? Moments that take us down a different path, that set in motion a series of events we didn’t dare to dream.
My moment was a single phone call. Nothing’s been the same since and for that I am profoundly grateful! So how can one phone call change everything? You’ll have to read my story to find out …