Cornish Love Match

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Miraculously, we found each other late in life… we had raised our families, had our careers. I did not even know he existed, (though he did know of me) but on the Venn diagram of our lives, we had been treading adjacent paths and circling each other through all my growing up years. But the big miracle – call it karma – had us both, 400 miles apart, independently turning on our computers on the same day, at the same time, and using the same dating site – one that enabled us, finally, to meet. He spotted me 'watching' his dating profile... read MY profile, realised he knew who I was - and got in touch. He had been living in North Wales for around 30 years. And once we’d met, to chat and discover each other and laugh at the sheer wonder of it all for months… ​ When at last we met face to face, I thought he looked plump, dour and glum. But our shared memories of Cornish childhoods, of common experiences, of familiar characters and much-loved sayings, soon broke through our fragile surface shells and found us loving and longing for the same things. We laughed – often – at the same things. Not knowing his future, Chris had amassed a larger collection of my Uncle’s pottery than I had. Not knowing I would become a part of his life, he already knew my mother’s songs, and loved her voice. I knew very early in our relationship that I had found the right one. My silent entreaties had been answered – it seemed the universe finally decided to stop playing games and said – ok – now you can meet. There isn’t a day goes by that I do not, silently, say ‘thank you’ for that. Sometimes I shudder with the delicious scariness of the thought: ‘What if the phone had rung, or someone had called, and we had turned aside and missed each other?’ Like my hero Terry Pratchett’s famous Trousers of Time, maybe there is an alternate universe in which we went down the wrong trouser leg and never met! … and I thank with all my heart whomsoever or whatever power is responsible for ensuring that didn’t happen. The serendipitous coincidences that boggled our minds so, keep appearing… ​ We both had… ... parents who married in 1948 ... been born in west Cornwall, to Cornish families, as 'only' children ... spent our early years living west of Penzance, the family later moving into town ... attended adjacent local Grammar Schools, where we had passed each other in the dinner queue daily ... connections with Sennen, where both his father was born and I had grown up ... fathers who worked in engineering – telephone and electrical ... mothers who were actively involved with their local WIs ... mothers who made pasties and enjoyed baking ... mothers who were honoured as Bards of the Cornish Gorsedd for services to Cornwall ... a love of my Uncle's Tremaen Pottery – his mum, and hence he too, collected it, and my mother was a Director and worked there, as did I ... grew up steeped in local legends and old sayings and with a strong love for Cornwall ... loved singing Cornish carols in the local pubs at Christmas ... lived only a few miles apart until I left for college 1968 ... visited the Count House at Botallack in their teens – he saw it as the NUA Disco, me as a folk club. ... visited the Pipers Folk Club at the Western Hotel in Penzance ... had to leave Cornwall for further education​ ... long known and loved the singing of my mother ... a fascination for Cornish history, art and culture ... married and had two children – I had boys, he had girls ... worked with computers ... later separated from our partners ... mothers who died within a week of each other in 1994 ... parents who died within a few months of each other ... 'annus horribilis' years around 1993-95 ... blonde granddaughters born in 2000 ... until 2004, when we'd been living about 400 miles apart for over 30 years – NEVER MET! ​ And now we have both served as School Governors at different times, and our eldest granddaughters are going to the same college. How weirdly wonderful is that? We had a glorious and wonderful wedding last month.
Total votes: 240
Date submitted:Fri, 25 Nov 2016 01:02:47 +0000Coincidence ID:8956