My prince did come ... finally

 

So here I am, married to a professional musician. We met long ago when we were both performing in a community theatre show - a musical called "The Pajama Game." He was the time study man and I was one of the factory girls who were "Racing with the Clock". We had a few scenes together and someone posted some old snapshots on Facebook recently.

Isn't he cute? I am the one with my hand on my hip. It was a fun time, but we were just acquaintances. I did not see him again for over 20 years. I heard he started singing for a living, and then later that he had a band with his teenage sons. I saw posters that they would be at a local bar, but my family would have dinner there at 6 p.m. and they would play at 10 p.m.

Now we talk about all the places that we both were over the years, maybe even at the same time, like Charlevoix in the summer. But we never crossed paths until I saw him performing on Mackinaw Island 6 or 7 years ago. I was still married to my ex and we stopped in to listen to a few songs. During his break, I asked him if he remembered me, and he said he did. We talked for a minute then said goodbye.

A few years later, I was divorced, and I saw his picture on match.com. I sent a message that said, "Hey, I know you!" He answered me and suggested getting together. Now I had met some really interesting people on-line and that is putting it mildly, so I invited him to join me and a group of  theatre friends for lunch at Dublin Square. It was a beautiful spring day and we were eating outside.

He arrived, I introduced him to everyone and we all chatted over our lunch and his beer. Then he said he needed to take a nap before his show that night, and left. Never heard from him. I guessed he was not impressed.

About a year and half later, I went to a funeral for a gentleman who was in "The Pajama Game." He had been very involved in local theatre and lots of people were there including you-know-who. We nodded across the room and I left.

Then in November, I am back on match.com (Try, try again!) and I see the profile for this guy. No way am I contacting him twice, so I moved on. He sees that I looked at his profile and sends me an email asking if I want to go to a play together some Sunday afternoon.

Again, I am cool. I tell him I am going to see a show at the Civic Players the next day. He can meet me there if he wants to.

He does. We watch the show. We go out for a meal. A few days later, we have a coffee date, talking for about four hours before I go home to get ready to see another play which he joins me to attend. We get together as much as we can, but he works a lot and he is busy for Thanksgiving. And I am leaving for a two week vacation right after the Holiday - a 10 day cruise by myself and my niece's wedding in Florida. Before I leave, he asks me to a party a week after I get back.

When I board the ship, I get a card telling me that he has sent me a bottle of wine. I call and thank him, only to learn after the ship sails that he also sent me a dozen roses. Now I see them every time I enter the cabin and he is definitely on my mind.

Obviously, he did all the right things, once he came back into my life, and we are now newlyweds. It took him a while to admit what happened after that lunch at Dublin Square when I thought he was not interested.

Turns out he was totally attracted, but having just divorced himself, he had sworn never to get involved again. So he went home, deleted my number from his phone, my email from his computer and vowed not to contact me.

Until he saw me at the funeral of our dear old friend. Thanks for the boost, Meryl.