Nothing makes us happier at PlentyOfFish than hearing from our couples whom found one another via our site. John and Grace’s story struck a nerve, after they told us it all began when they shared their first kiss together as teenagers.
Warning – Grab a box of Kleenex for this one.
Grace: In 2015, after 27 years of marriage, I found myself divorced.
Thankfully I had a younger sister who had a place for me to live. I found a job, worked long hours and gained my independence back. Most of my friends were married, so I decided why not give online dating
a shot?
At first I just wanted to be nosy and see if there were people looking for dates that I knew from high school or places I had previously worked in the general area.
One night I checked my messages and I got a very unexpected surprise. The message said, “I really like your profile, I’d like to get to know you better.”
I looked at the picture and I instantly knew the person. It was, in fact, the first boy I ever kissed at the age of 15.
My first love.
John: I never suspected that my last shot with online dating was going to be the happiest time in my entire life. I had a few replies, but one struck me in a way that no other had. It was the message that said, “you already know me but it’s been a really long time.” I was puzzled for days.
Grace: I replied, “you used to call me on the phone, and play and sing to me with your guitar.” He replied almost a quickly as I did with, “It must have been a really long time, I’m sorry I don’t remember you.”
We messaged back and forth for a few days. I tried to jog his memory, but it just wasn’t happening. He messaged me on a Friday night and told me that he was coming to my neck of the woods on Saturday and would like to take me out for dinner.
John: When I got close to Grace’s hometown, something hit me like a ton of bricks. I had to stop and call Grace. I asked her, “Did you used to live over next to Mountain Run Lake?” She said, “Yes I did.”
Oh my God, I remembered her. I remembered a lot!
She was the first girl I ever kissed. We were actually a couple at 15 and 16. But her mom forbid me to see her because of the first and only kiss we shared in my truck. I was 16.
Grace was the first girl I loved.
Grace: I sat anxiously awaiting his arrival. After about 5 minutes I thought maybe something was wrong. I thought maybe he had gotten lost or changed his mind. But just a moment after that, a white pickup truck came around the corner with a guy driving with the biggest smile I’d ever seen. He parked his truck and came walking up to me. It was the same face and feeling I had when I was 15. I even saw the image in my mind of him walking towards me the exact same way. My heart leaped with joy.
I felt like I had finally come home.
John: I was driving with some nervous excitement. I remembered the image of her sitting in my truck when we were teens. I remembered she liked to sing. I got close to her house, and drove down the street and around the corner. As I rounded the corner, there she was on the porch. It was like I was looking at her sitting on her front porch waiting for me at 15.
My heart did a flip because there on that porch sat an angel. And she was waiting just for me.
John & Grace: We went out to a little Mexican Restaurant and talked all through dinner. John reached for my hand while we were sitting there. I didn’t have the least bit of hesitation about him holding my hand. It was a hand I held many years before, although somewhat aged.
Dinner just wasn’t enough. The night could not end there. We decided to go to the bowling alley and on the way there, we sat in the truck and sang some songs, much like old times.
As the night was coming to an end, John had to talk about his health issues. He had been diagnosed with Bullous Emphysema in 2004. This was discovered after a lung collapse. They said I wouldn’t live till I was 40, but here I am exceeding the life span by 9 years now. Watching John that night, you would have never known that he was ill. We had a lot of fun and I knew I didn’t want this to be the last of it.
After a month of driving long distances to be together, neither of us could take the separation. We missed each other so much when we couldn’t be together, so we said, “We’ve got to get a place together.” We decided to live in his camper until we found a home. We moved into the campground and started our new life together.
We got married on September 11, 2016
It was only after Grace saw a picture of me, when I was about 6 years of age, that we realized we had actually met as children 42 years ago.
Thank you PlentyOfFish.
-Mr and Mrs. John W. Brown Jr
