I met Ronnie when I went to visit my best friend in another city when I was a junior in high school in 1967. I think it was "love at first sight" for both of us and we were soon an "item". He would drive the 30-some miles back and forth every week to see me, usually picking me up and bringing me back home again. I know he put many thousands of miles on his little VW bug.

Ronnie and I were married in 1968, right in the middle of extremely tumultuous times in America. We were so excited to start our lives together and promptly put a deposit on a little house near where he grew up. Then the letter came. Ronnie was being drafted into the U.S. Army. Talk about "bursting your bubble!” Our lives were now to be changed forever. He went away to basic training and then was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington. We went to Washington together with a small trailer we bought to live in. I got pregnant and we were so excited. Then The Army decided to send Ronnie to Korea. Our lives were again turned upside down. I will not write about the horrible times to come, just that our marriage did not survive.

Fast forward to 2010. I had just gone through a divorce and decided to look Ronnie up on Facebook. I found out his wife had died a few years earlier from cancer. I sent him a short note asking if I could "just say Hi" and waited for his reply. Well, he did reply and the day he walked through my door I knew I had never stopped loving him. That was in September 2010. In December, just after Christmas he took me back to the beautiful place on the Colorado River where we had spent our honeymoon in 1968 and proposed to me. We will be married in September 2011.

So, my life has truly come full circle at the age of 59, and I couldn't be happier! Never give up. Life holds so many surprises you never know what it has in store for you.

You might also be interested in these articles:

• A Shared Story: Still There
• A Shared Story: Reinventing Myself
• A Shared Story: A Gift of Heritage
• A Shared Story: The Girls of My Facebook Page
• A Shared Story: Mary's Story - Part 2 - The Hunt

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