Story Of The Week – Ever After…

Story Of The Week..

Ever After…

by Colette Wintrom

It was my birthday and I was home alone, but not by choice.  I had planned to be at dinner sitting exquisitely attired across from the tall handsome man I’d been dating for the past two months.  However, he had not shown up or called, and he was three hours late.

As I sat staring out the window at the busy traffic below, I recalled all the anxious times in my dating life I had spent waiting on a man to either show up or call, and on this night I ached from what I called, “frontline fatigue.”  It seemed for the last year or so, I had scurried from one “promising encounter” to another in search of the companionship I yearned for.  But thus far, I had not been successful.  It was as if I held up an invisible magnet that attracted only those who either wanted to play for a while or really didn’t want to play at all.  Some encounters had been better than others, but none had lasted past the starting gate.  I wanted to be married, but it didn’t seem to be in the stars for me.

As self-pity induced me to sink even lower in the chair and reflect on my experiences.  I wondered if it was something I was doing wrong.  I prided myself on being kind, cooperative, and generous, and I convinced myself that these characteristics would assure me admiration and respect.  However, it had not happened yet.

It seemed that every time I targeted a man with an arrow from Cupid’s bow, I failed to hit a bull’s eye, and ended up with a wounded heart.  There had been some good times, but they had been few and far between.

I was especially discouraged on this night because I’d had high hopes for this relationship.  This man had been like a breath of fresh air, and I had imagined that perhaps finally I had met the man of my dreams.  He seemed to really care.   But, apparently, I was wrong.

When the phone finally rang, I grabbed it in anticipation of hearing his voice giving me an excuse I could live with, but it was my sister, reminding me gently of my habit of falling for the wrong guy.  The truth of her words stung as I hung up the phone in tears.

When the doorbell rang a half-hour later, I knew it was her coming over to try and comfort me.  However, when I opened the door, there stood my boyfriend with a dozen roses and a big grin on his face.  It turned out he had been stuck in traffic due to a bad accident and couldn’t call because his phone was dead.

When he set the roses on the table, he pulled a small box out of his pocket, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him.  When I said yes through flowing tears, he presented me with the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen.  At last, my high expectations seemed in accord with the universe.