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The NovelFriends are four writers who met through Wisconsin Romance Writers and initially became bonded by our love of books. That connection has expanded, grown, and deepened into true friendship over the years. We look forward to sharing our experiences with you, so follow the blog and join in the fun - we're always happy to have more NovelFriends!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Living my own Happily Ever After - Jamie

I have been in love with romance since I was a little girl. I did all the cliche things - Barbie & Ken weddings and silly school girl crushes that had me trailing boys around the playground. I could say I eventually grew out of that silliness, but it's not completely true. I did stop the Barbie weddings, but not slipping into those little crushes when I met a great guy was a lot harder for me. I still loved the idea of love and wanted that for myself. It was a frustrating process and after another heartbreak I decided enough was enough and gave up on the whole idea.

It really was like a romance novel in a way. I had taken a few years off after high school and had just started attending technical school. One of my friends from school insisted she knew this great guy I had to meet, Len. No way. First of all, I was not getting sucked into another crush again. But come on, Len? Really? He was studying accounting and with a name like that I could just see some geek with glasses and a pocket protector. Forget it.

My friend didn't give up though. She invited me to a birthday party for Len at his house. It was a Friday night and I had nothing else to do, so I went. It wasn't love at first sight, but it was close. My first sighting of Len was him standing at the kitchen sink in a t-shirt and short running shorts that gave me a fantastic view of his legs. Whew! We had a great time talking and made plans to meet at the game room at school to play darts. He walked me to my car and gave me a kiss on this cheek, and bam - that was it for me. Somehow, I just knew this was different from anything I'd experienced before.

We went on our first date the following week. Two months later we were engaged. Two years later we were married.


We celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary last week. No big, super romantic event, but that doesn't matter. We had a great dinner our with our two boys. Perfect night. Our life has little resemblance to the chick flick movies I love so much, or the romance novels I devour each day. I didn't even have the incredible romantic proposal I'd always dreamed of. I realized none of that matters. What matters is that Lenny really is my best friend. We've had our rough times, but never so bad we couldn't muck our way through it together. We've been through a lot and it has only made our relationship stronger. No one can make me laugh or feel better the way he can. I may not be the Disney princess I always dreamed I'd be. I'm something better - I'm Lenny's princess and he's my prince charming, and not the Disney version, but my own and that, for me, is a million times better.



8 comments:

  1. Jamie, that's a great romance story! I was the opposite of you growing up...I played with toads, not Barbies, and I hated Ken. But about 14, those crushes began and kept up. I still get goofy crushes on hot guys, but the love of my life always trumps them.

    Congratulations to you and Len on your 20 years and here's to another 20 more!

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  2. What a wonderfully romantic true-life tale. I met my husband of 31 years in a bowling alley--and it definitely wasn't love at first sight. But somehow it worked out in the end. And my Barbie went to rock fests with Ken, and got pretty wild. I wonder where she got that from? LOL Wishing you many more years of happiness together.

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  3. Thanks Stacey! So glad you found the love of your life, too.

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  4. Thanks Penny! Sounds like your Barbie had lots of fun. So, how did your hubby finally win you over?

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  5. Sweet story, Jamie. I was definitely a romantic Barbie girl as well, but since I'm such a history geek, Ken and Barbie tended to meet on wagon trains made out of shoe boxes or during medieval jousts with Malibu Ken vs Mod-Hair Ken going at with with pencils on the Barbie stallion vying for Princess Barbie's hand in marriage.

    You and Lenny are a great couple and I'm wishing you two another 20 years as wonderful as the first. Steve & I just got 22 years under out belts on Saturday.

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  6. We could have had a great time playing Barbie's together, Delia. Thanks for the anniversary wishes and a belated Happy Anniversary to you and Steve. You two are such a fun couple. I love hearing all your stories.

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  7. That's the perfect kind of love story, Jamie. Continue living it.

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  8. I hope to for a long time, Casey. Thank you!

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