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Our Story -Part 2
So the interesting part of this story is how David and I finally got together. Follow closely though, as this is the semi-complicated part. You see, his sister Amy dated my cousin Tom, for several years back in the day. They both went on to marry other people, and Amy now lives outside of Atlanta, GA with her husband and 3 teenagers. In January of 2016, my Aunt Linda (Tom’s mom), passed away after a valiant battle with cancer. I contacted Amy to let her know of this, as she had spent a lot of time with my family, including Linda, and I knew she would want to know. During the course of our conversation, I asked her how her brother, David, was doing, and where was he these days. She said he was still working for United Air Lines, living in the Chicago area, and getting ready to be divorced after 25 plus years of marriage. She mentioned I should “friend request” him on Facebook. I mean, people, we are in our early 50’s, so this was kind of funny.
After Amy and I finished our conversation, I think I immediately “friend requested” David, and a few minutes later, he accepted the request. I then sent him an email in FB Messenger. We caught up with each other through FB email, texts, and phone calls. I told him if he ever got back to Virginia to visit his mom, we should meet for coffee, lunch, or dinner. (Now let me clear the air on this–first and foremost David and I had always been good friends. He and his estranged wife were not living together, they had been separated for over 6 months, and they were just waiting on their divorce to be final, which happened on March 10, 2016).
About a week and a half after our first conversation on the phone, David was on a plane to VA for a visit. We met in the Kroger parking lot and then rode together to dinner that night. It was like he had never been away. We basically picked up with our friendship right where it left off. The visits continued over the next few months. His divorce was finalized, and we decided to “get away” by going to a popular VA tourist destination, Colonial Williamsburg for the weekend. (For more information on Colonial Williamsburg, visit our post, Williamsburg Weekend).
So you can imagine the rest of the story–David and I were inseparable over the next few months, even though he lived in IL and I in VA. We talked on the phone every day, and visited each other all summer, not going more than 2 weeks without seeing each other. (That still holds true today). We found a favorite coffee shop in downtown Richmond, called Lamplighter Coffee, which we frequented a lot, and on Sept. 1st, 2016, David proposed to me right inside that coffee shop!
We continued our “long distance” relationship, with each day becoming more and more difficult living in two separate states. We decided we had been apart for over 30 years and we didn’t want to be apart a minute longer. So we were married on December 30, 2016, in the same church in our hometown where we first met and became friends all those years ago. All four of “our children” were in our wedding, and that was so special to us.
In January of 2017, this hometown girl moved from VA to IL (that was scary-but thank goodness for flight benefits !!), as David still works for United in Chicago. I was able to transfer to IL with my job at Travelers, and was fortunate to be able to work from home. I celebrated 10 years of service in 2019, and retired recently, in order to become a full-time Luxury Travel and Lifestyle Writer! David will also retire from United as soon as this travel “business” of ours “takes off”!
So there you have it–Our Story!! Oh, and in case you are wondering about the title, “At Last” –besides the fact that this is how we felt about finally getting together after all these years, it’s the song by Etta James that we danced our first dance as husband and wife to at our wedding!
Now that you know our history, you can see why we are so perfect for each other. Our career paths have both been airline and travel related, and we would love to share our travel stories, tips, and adventures with you!!
