gouda and gigondas

Juliets famed balcony

I met my husband on eHarmony. There, I said it.  Of course, this was many months after his then-wife met her new boyfriend, a drummer, on MySpace.  Out she flew to a new apartment and a new life, leaving all but a puff of smoke, and, just like that, technology was able to accomplish what two capable adults could not — progress.  Andy was suddenly and exuberently a single dad of two adorable girls, ages 5 and 7.  Being a single parent myself, with an 8-year-old son, I was intrigued at the thought of dating someone with kids.  Strangely, I had never done so.  Maybe it was worth a try.

Ladies, let me tell you, single dads are the bomb.  Compared to the immature boys out there with commitment issues and ex-girlfriends in every corner, single dads are regular superheros.  Chivalrous, respectful, not afraid to show their sensitive sides and be vulnerable, and actually looking for a partner in life… Basically, an anomaly.

After months of emailing (literally, two whole months) before our first date, and then months of dating (literally, three whole months more), we had our first kiss.  I was about to give up on this guy.  Surely he was a catch – he was brilliant, interesting and so cute.  But hello???  Five months before a first kiss?  That’s a little slow even for me, and I’m a good Catholic girl.  I mean, you have to know if you’re going to have any chemistry together — am I right?

Well, obviously you know the kiss must have been good, because I’ve told you he’s now my husband.  But all that was almost detoured when Andy made a potentially fatal relationship mistake:  He decided to buy a new car.  

I suppose this was an out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new, sort of decision for him.  He had just ended a 13-year marriage and felt, as he put it, liberated and full of life, again.  Andy, of course, never one to do anything the normal way, decided he would sell his boring BMW 7-series, purchase a new convertible BMW 650, and take European delivery in Munich.  So he plotted his trip, along with some old schoolmates of his from Belgium, and made his plans.  I, however, was decidedly not invited.  Of course, an off-handed, “You should come with us,” was wafted around a few times, but no real invitation was spoken.

About the time Andy’s trip came to fruition, things were becoming more serious between us.  The silence of my name from his travel plans became deafening.  My old defenses came back to me and convinced me I wouldn’t care if he were here by my side or racing around the Autobahn in his stupid new car.  I, after all, had several guys from my past who wanted back in, so maybe I’d just go on a date or two while he was gone.  Yeah, right.  Who was I kidding.

Andy would call from his trip and tell me how fantastic the car was, the cities were on their travel schedule, the food and wine were…  I suppose it didn’t help that one of his friends was a gorgeous blonde femme fatale (married, of course) from Norway.  My spirits were in the gutter.  Plus, I just missed him.

Proof, right?

He called me one day from a cafe in Verona, Italy.  He said he had just stood outside the famous Romeo and Juliet balcony and that he had climbed the wall and wrote, “ANDY (heart) STEF” in the archway of the courtyard.  He snapped a photo on his cell phone and sent it to me, just to make sure I believed him.  My heart went pitter-patter.  I felt like I was right there with him, standing under that archway, instead of a world away in my kitchen unceremoniously cleaning up dishes from dinner.

Juliet gets her Romeo, and a happy ending

Well, Andy returned from his trip and we made our relationship official.  He proposed to me that February on Valentine’s Day (a romantic), and we were married a little over a year later, exactly two years after our first date.  When discussing where to go for our honeymoon, a trip through France and Italy developed, which could not have been complete without a certain detour thru Verona, Italy.  Yep, here’s a photo of us standing in the archway to the courtyard of Juliet’s famous balcony.  Juliet got her Romeo.  Thanks, eHarmony!

Oh, and for the record, last year we sold that racy BMW 650 and purchased, you guessed it, another BMW 7-series.

Ciao friends!

Stephanie

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Verona, Verona... wherefore art thou Verona?

If you are planning an upcoming trip to Italy, I suggest you check out this gorgeous city. We detoured there on our way from Florence to Venice, and quickly wished we would have planned a longer visit.  Verona has a beautiful arena in ruins, a smaller version than the great Roman coliseum.  Walking the cobblestone pathway on the route to Juliet’s house is enough to make you feel like putting your home up for sale and starting to learn Italiano! 

The streets of Verona, Italy

This entry was posted on April 4, 2011 at 10:23 pm and is filed under Miscellaneous, Traveling the Seven Seas with tags eHarmony, Juliet, Romeo, Verona. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.