That 12-year-old girl

It is February 1981. I am sitting in a hotel room by the airport in Toronto. I just flew in from Montreal that day leaving the city where I was born and lived my whole life. I am 23 years old and about to start my first job after graduation from university as a sales representative. Earlier in the evening I met the whole sales team and my boss as I attended a quarterly sales conference. I am excited but a bit scared as I am about to embark on my new career. As I sit alone in my hotel room my mind is racing. Will I be successful in my first job out of school? Where will I live? Will I meet someone? As I get trained over the next two weeks things are starting to settle in. I find a furnished apartment in Hamilton and will move in at the first of the month. I have my company car and start to make customer visits on my own. I am feeling good about myself, however I still haven’t met anyone to share my journey with. 

Twenty minutes from my furnished apartment lives a 12-year-old girl. She is in grade 6 and lives with her parents and brothers in a house. She is a smart outgoing girl but yet not interested in meeting or hanging out with boys. 

Life is funny some times. Fast forward to 2004. I am now 46 years old living in Oakville in a townhouse I bought 5 years ago. I have changed jobs a few times, lived in different cities and have been in a few relationships, but I am still where I was all those years ago, single and living alone. That 12-year-old girl is now 35 years old and has graduated university and working in nursing in her chosen profession. After several job changes and living in different cities and countries she is living in a townhouse in Burlington. She is interested in boys now and has had a few relationships but is also living alone. 

Through an online dating service that I was browsing one evening I reached out to the girl. She was a trial member and fortunately she responded to my message. After several exchanges we began dating and got engaged one year later.  We have been married for 16 years and have two daughters 14 and 12. 

Who would have thought that the 23-year-old guy who wondered in his hotel room on his first night in Toronto who would he meet, ends up being married to that 12-year-old girl who lived 20 minutes away from him?