37 Cats and Kalimarie

Categories: Dating, Pen Pals, Friends: Success Stories
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Submitted by: Nannette | View Member Profile | View Other Posts
Created: 10/16/2001

At certain point, it becomes easier to close up and forget about the promise of love and the fact that there might really be someone out there that is worthy of our trust. At a certain point, it is much easier to brace ourselves to living a life alone. It had started to become a joke among my friends that I was going to become one of those women who lived alone the rest of her life, gardened until she had calluses on her knees and was the owner of 37 cats. I had resigned myself to that. It certainly seemed a better option than continuing to date men who didn't even begin to share my beliefs, but certainly didn't mind trying to share my bed. Trust me, 37 cats had started feeling more appealing than that prospect.

Then, last July, on a day that I was feeling uncharacteristically lonely, I signed up on Shining Star, hoping to at least make some friends that I could maybe coax into helping me feed my 37 cats (so far I only have one cat, but there was still hope!). I e-mailed a couple of times with a couple of gentlemen who obviously were not interested in a woman who insisted that she wanted only a friendship and nothing more. Then, a couple of days after I signed up, I started an e-mail/phone relationship with a man that just wouldn't go away. I'm not saying that in a bad way, but as much as I pushed him away and made it so clear that I didn't want a relationship, he just hung in there. He became a friend. Then, over time, he became my best friend. It didn't matter the time of day or the problem I was facing, he was always there for me. Always!

Still, I refused to let him fly out and meet me because I was still hoping for the 37 cats and was afraid he might kill that dream (snicker snicker). But finally, during a particularly stressful time for me, he insisted on flying out, and this time I didn't tell him no. Thank God!

Well, to make a very long story short, he proposed to me. Yep, came right out and asked me to marry him. He told me that I didn't have to answer him, so I didn't. I made a joke that it was hanging out there in the air for when I was ready to grab it back down.

This past weekend he flew out here again. At a recent sidewalk sale I bought a little bottle. On the sides of it are a dozen little phones (we have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours on the phone). On the top is a cork with a wire attached that holds a piece of paper. It's a message in a bottle. When he got here, I gave him the bottle with just one word written on the note inside. "Yes". I think that says it all.

So, we are planning on starting a ministry together. From very simple beginnings, I can tell it will grow big and touch many lives. Now, more than ever, the word of God needs to be spread. People need to be given the gift of awareness in the many blessings God bestows on us every day. I give thanks to God for bringing me my best friend and future husband. And I give thanks for Shining Star, because without it, God would have had a harder time bringing us together.

Thank you for this happiness and joy that is filling my life. Your site is truly a blessing!

Kalimarie