2010 True Love Magazine Submission...My First $75 Bucks

We met at a pre-Valentine’s Day dance.  The date was February 7^th and we met on the dance floor of a local bowling alley.  I had sworn off dating for the year 2009 because I had been dating since I was 15 and with one failed marriage and several failed relationships in general, I had had enough.  I went to the dance to shake my groove thang and shake off all the negative energy of the past two years.  I certainly wasn’t going out to meet anyone.  I could care less about finding a mate; I wanted to be mate-less this year.  It was my prayer and the prayer of my closest friends that I live man-less, at least for this year. 

While on the dance floor, I can recall this fine, slim, goatee wearing ruff-neck looking dude sliding up behind me as I danced alone to Whoodini’s, The Freaks Come Out at Night.  We danced to that song, as well as all the other fast songs that came on.  It wasn’t until they played a slow jam that I exited the dance floor.  I wasn’t trying to send any mixed signals, so I fled the dance floor.  He stood on the side lines looking towards me and pleading with his eyes for me to join him on the dance floor.  “No way,” I mouthed, as I shook my head to his suggestion.  Another fast song came on and we resumed our place on the dance floor.  We danced until it was time to go and he asked me for my telephone number.  Being a tad bit tipsy from the free drinks that were served, I gave him my number. 

I arrived home later that evening and not a half hour later, he was calling.  We talked on the phone for a whole week before I agreed to see him again.  Mind you, before we met again, he had already claimed me as his wife.  “Um hummmm, you wanna marry me and you don’t even know me, yeah right,” I constantly said.  The next time I saw him was Valentine’s Day.  I arrived where he lived and received a teddy bear with the phrase, “Be My Valentine.”  Two days later a situation occurred where he had to vacate where he was living.  He called me to tell me he was leaving the place that I had visited and moving elsewhere.  Elsewhere was further in the heart of our city and I didn’t care to visit him there.  Coincidentally he moved in with me and believe me it has been the best relationship I have been in since I was fifteen. 

How I know I’m in love is simple.  For the first time in my history, I am involved with a man who knows who he is and is comfortable with who he is.  He is confident and truthful.  What I see is what I get; which is wonderful because I’ve been dealing with guys who pretend to be one thing and then I find out differently and then it’s over.  This guy recognizes what he has and is willing to do whatever to keep it.  Although he is nine years younger than I am, he recognizes that he has a real woman and wants to step up and be a real man.  I know I’m in love because I am totally comfortable in front of him.  He has seen me at my best and my worst.  My life is an open book before him and he accepts me for who I am, as I do him.  One of the things that makes me aware of the fact that I must be in love with this man is the fact that I have opened myself completely to him.  How you might be asking?  Let’s just say that I have never in my 42 years, been comfortable enough in front of a man to be totally human, i.e. expelling natural gas.  “Eeeeewwwwwwwww,” you might be saying, but for me, that is a definitive.  No, it’s not a polite thing to do in front of someone, but we all have the need to do it from time to time.  Me and my fiancé are indeed one and in love.  I can’t wait to tie the knot.