FGG,

Congratulations. I am not surprised in fact I expected this to happen. You had too much going for you to end up alone.

How did the kids take it? Are they happy for you? Do they approve of your choice? We want the dirt FGG, nothing but the dirt,leave the fertilizer out though OK?

God Bless,

JL

FGG,

Congratulations! It is nice to read some happy news here.
I am very happy for you.

1. That is fantastic! I am so happy for FGG!!

JL and 2Long have told me they want to send you some expen$ive gifts ... where are you registered?

Pep <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Congratulations FGG.

So, have the two of you done the ENQ together?

With prayers,

I am happy for you. After all you've been through, you certainly deserve to be happy and you have lots to give a special woman.

How did your XW react?
I am also interested if you have your son's blessings.

How wonderful for you GG!!! So..............

How/where/when did you meet?

And of course....the MB advice!!! GG PLEASE.....make this a very long engagement. Considering what we know about the science of love....and infatuation.....you simply MUST know this wonderful woman for at least 18 months to 2 years BEFORE marrying her!!!!!!!!!!!! Please don't make me hunt you down......I've injured my knee and so I can't kick you in the butt with it okay?

All kidding aside.....I am deliriously happy for you!!! You are a WAY cool and deserve happiness.....and I've always thought your WW was a complete moron to let you go. I also want to remind you that you have no idea WHO you're marrying until your biochemistry reaches NORMAL.

Give Jeb a juicy bone for me!! He's too cute!

Yay! I knew you wouldn't be on the market for long at all.
d0mest1cg0ddess@verizon.net, please send pix.
I wish you both every happiness.
and Kiss the dog for me.

Hey, we already did! That Rolls was from US! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

-ol' 2long

Okay, I've added a photo of Jeb's new "sister" to the link. (At least I hope I can convince him she's his sister. She's a real looker!).

I'm going to try to write out the whole story tonight, beginning to end. However, at her request, I will leave out one detail that I know everyone wants to know. She has asked that we ONLY tell folks how we met when we are together.

To that end...I will make sure she knows about you all (and I've mentioned this to her in passing, but I don't think she understands the depth of this site) and assure that we're in agreement on posting how we met.

And...before I write out the whole saga...I know that many will want to offer advice, which I know is sincere and well intentioned. We are quite comfortable (and confidant) in the course we have in place, so please don't take offense if I don't follow all specific advice.

Where...oh where...is the Goddess??

Georgia

Wonderful news! Knew you wouldn't be left alone for long!

By the way, this is your friend from GA that used to post on the MB ages ago!

Congratulations! Can't say I'm surprised, you do deserve it.

I wish all the best!

BTW, how did your ex-W take it?

you've got mail

Pep

Pep:

So do you.

-ol' 2long

She is a real looker....both the woman and her dog!

Okay folks, I'm working on it....

post coming up shortly.

More coming up...but here is the contents of a card that I gave to both S's and DIL's (in person and read to them):

S & DIL –

I want to let you know of a decision I have made that will forever change my life.

I have met a very special lady named Ann xxx. Ann and her late husband, a Baptist pastor, were married over 29 years before he passed away 3 years ago of pancreatic cancer. Ann’s faithfulness and loyalty to her husband through very difficult times is an inspiration.

She and I share a common bond in our values and morals which are rooted in our faith in God. I’ve been incredibly impressed with her gentle loving compassion for others and her genuine faith. I see in her a Godly example of what Proverbs 31 means.

Ann and I have prayed diligently and earnestly about our relationship, and we’ve asked others who we know to be Godly men and women to pray for us as well. My pastor has been involved in this relationship every step of the way.

This past week I asked Ann to marry me, and she has accepted.

You both will forever be an important part of my life, and I ask that you support us as we prepare to share the rest of our lives together as husband and wife.

Dad

very cute /handsome couple

both extremely happy-looking

peace & love & blessings

Pep

PS ... if the pup needs adopting ... gimme a call ! *thump-thump*

Whew...my fingers are getting tired!!

Standby for the worlds longest post!!

I will try to tell everything I can think of.

There is no big “secret” to how we met, it’s just than Ann is still kind of “embarrassed” to admit the method we used to find each other. Nothing bad (no, we didn’t meet in a bar or anything like that).

I’m not sure where to start.

I first was introduced to Ann the week before the trip with Lisa. Ann and I became close friends really, really quickly. She knew about my trip, and we agreed that I should go. However, I couldn’t stop thinking about Ann, she had just so captivated me and we just fit together like a hand and glove. But…I assumed we would be “just friends” and leave it at that.

When I got back, she and I talked and she said “well, I guess things are going well for you there.” But…I just had to tell her that I wasn’t so sure…and that we (Lisa and I) had agreed to take it slow and see what happened. Sometimes things seemed so strained and contrived with her, even though she was really nice and very pleasant to be with. I admired her in many, many ways.

But….I just couldn’t quit thinking about Ann. Wow…she was such a “fit”, I just don’t know how else to put it.

I found out that she had been married over 29 years. Her husband was a pastor and evangelist. In 1999 he was diagnosed with cancer, and he succumbed in 2003. We would talk about her life as a pastors wife, raising their 2 children (now grown) and the values that she instilled in her kids. Rarely (if ever) have I talked to someone whose beliefs and methods of childrearing had so closely mirrored mine.

I was impressed with her discussion of her husbands last days. Howe she cared for him at home and made sure that he was always clean and neatly dressed whenever anyone saw him, even though she had to care for his every need. Her words….”it is important for a man to be able to maintain his dignity…even when dying”. I was so impressed.

She would describe her day for me…her routine of being up early before work to start her day with a quiet cup of hot tea and her morning devotion and prayer time. Wow…I was so captivated by the thoughts of “domestic tranquility”.

All this through her quiet, gentle spirit.

But…coupled with a sense of mischief that is more like that of a child. After we had been talking a bit she sent me a “rushed” e-mail that she was out the door to dinner…and did I tell you that a pilot I’ve been corresponding with is in town??

I panicked…..She knew I panicked….she could hear it in my voice. The next door she confessed that yes, she did go to dinner (with her daughter) and the pilot was indeed in town...but not the town she lives in. At first she laughed…but later she cried and asked me to forgive her for misleading me but “she had to know if I cared”.

My pastor is being privy to all this goings on with our increasingly frequent discussions about my relationships. I invited him here to my house to discuss this quandary I was finding myself in….Lisa vs. Ann.

He told me that before he was married, he had a lot of young ladies. He admitted that he had done a lot of things that he had to ask a lot of forgiveness for. But…he said that when he meet Martha (his wife) he knew that if he didn’t marry her he would forever regret missing that opportunity.

He asked if I pursued a relationship with Ann, would I ever wonder what life with Lisa would have been like. I was able to say “no, I would have no second thoughts about that”. He then asked if I pursued a relationship with Lisa, would I wonder what life with Ann would have been like. It hit me that moment that there was no way I could forgo my relationship with Ann as she was everything I had ever dreamed of in a woman…and lots I hadn’t.

Hours later I called Lisa and told her I was really sorry but it wasn’t working out and I needed to end the relationship. She was…I must say, a bit surprised. It was hard to do that…she was a very kind lady and I cared a lot about her, and I know that I hurt her.

I called Ann and told her that I really needed to talk to her that night. I later found out that she expected that to be the call where I told her that I needed to end our relationship and she told me how upset she was.

That night we talked. I told her that I had ended the relationship with Lisa because it was obvious to me that she (Ann) was everything I could ask for in a woman and I wanted to pursue a relationship with her. But, I told her that she may not be interested in me and I would understand why. I told her about Lynn…complete with sordid details and all. I asked if she could ever be interested in me knowing about that. We had a long discussion about vulnerability, repentance, and forgiveness. At the end…she said that yes, she would like to pursue a relationship with me too.

We prayed together…deeply and emotionally. She cried and asked God to forgive her for misleading me about the dinner with the pilot.

One day she was kidding me about something (I don’t remember what) and she said she was going to call my pastor and tell on me. Later in the day, I had my pastor call her kind of as a joke, but instead they were on the phone 1 ½ hours talking about ‘real stuff”. He told me later than she earned his respect that day and she was “the real deal”.

Since then, we have talked hours every day (all by phone / e-mail – at last count just under 1,000 e-mails). And yes…there is been absolutely, positively no doubt in my mind that this is the woman that I want to spend the rest of my life with. Our daily devotion and prayer together is so deep, so “intimate”...it’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced in my life.

As some of you more astute photo observers may notice, the background topography ain’t Georgia. She lives on other end of the country (bay area).

We decided to meet Labor Day weekend. Two weeks before I went, I picked out a beautiful diamond at a local jeweler and had it set into an engagement ring.

When I got there last Saturday we embraced each other at the airport and I think both of us lost track of time. Then we kissed. (We had discussed how “awkward” it would be the first time we saw each other. Hah…it wasn’t!).

We went straight to a restaurant at Fisherman’s Wharf overlooking the bay and Alcatraz and had lunch. It felt like we had been together forever. That night we watched “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken” (she had told me that was one of her all time favorites, so I bought it and took it with me). She sat in my lap and we cuddled. It was bliss.

Sunday we went to her church (she was really nervous about this one). As she says…she is “high profile”…everyone there knows her because her husband was the church evangelist. I could feel stares burning through me. (Could it have been because of my overalls and straw hat?).

We had lunch with her youngest daughter (27) and her boyfriend. They were so kind…her daughter seemed thrilled that her mom had someone interested in her and treating her like a lady. After church Sunday night we had dinner with a very kind elderly couple who have “adopted” Ann as their daughter since her husband died. We sat in Denny’s 2 ½ hours talking, then we huddled and prayed in the parking lot. I’ll never forget that he prayed that “God….whatever you’ve got in store for Georgia and Ann…make it happen soon”.

The next day I took her to Half Moon Bay and rented 2 horses from a nearby stable. She loves to ride and had her own horse at one time (one of her dreams for the future, by the way). She had a wonderful time riding on the beach and later told me that was one of her lifelong dreams. It was great. Of course, I hadn’t ridden since I was a kid, so I was a nervous wreck!

I had made us lunch reservations at the Ritz. There is a small beach down the bluff within walking distance of the hotel, and we walked down to overlook that beach. She later told me (I had no idea of this beforehand) that after her husband died, she would go to that beach with her dog, alone, and cry because she was so alone.

While we were on that bluff, overlooking that beach, I told her that I had brought our morning devotion material and I’d like for us to sit down and have our devotion together. She thought that was great. I had written out Proverbs 31 and I read it. As I read each verse describing a Godly wife, I would pause and tell her that I saw that characteristic in her. I left verse 10 to the last:

“An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels.”

I told her that I saw in her an excellent wife, and that I would be honored if she would be my wife as I pulled the ring from my camera case. She was near speechless. Her only question to me was “Are you sure?” I said yes I am…and she said “Yes, I will”.

She was ecstatic and she started stopping strangers on the sidewalk to tell them we were engaged. We eventually got into the Ritz (2 ½ hours late for our reservations!). She was just so exuberant and excited. She kept telling people in the restaurant.

On the way back to town, we stopped by the elderly couples house and I asked for his blessing on our marriage (her father is deceased…she said she considers him “dad”). He said they had been praying a long time for God to send the right man for Ann…and he was sure I was the man and he would give his blessings to our marriage.

I spent the next day at her townhouse fixing things that she needed help with, and that night (10:00 PM to be exact), I caught a plane back home. That was the sickest feeling I have felt in a long time…watching her drive away.

And…I miss her SO much!!! This is torture!!

However, she is flying here next Saturday (23rd). She is flying into Atlanta and I’m going to pick her up there. We are driving straight up to a town in Tennessee where her in-laws live. Her FIL has a brain tumor and isn’t expected to live only a very short time. Ann has told them about me and they are anxious to meet me, so we’re going there first. Then, Sunday we’re driving back here (through the Smoky Mountains, I might add). We’re going to just take our time and make a fun, romantic trip of the drive back and enjoy the day together.

Whew….okay…I’ve got to leave this for tonight.

I know there is more to tell (the boys, for example).

That’ll have to be later.

If you’ve made it this far…thanks for actually, really caring.

(Where is that Goddess!!!??? She hasn’t dropped out of sight has she?).

Georgia