No, this isn't a fairy tale, and I don't know if it has a happily ever after, either.  Only time will tell. 

Is it really possible to rekindle a love that has been lost for years?  That all depends.  This is a story of the "one that got away".  I know most of us have a story like that.  They may differ in the details, but the basics of the story remain the same. 

Boy meets girl.  Boy falls for girl, but girl isn't interested.  They become friends.  Boy looses interest just when the girl starts to gain interest.  Repeat pattern several times, until boy and girl grow apart.  Boy and girl grow up and always wonder "what if?"  Those annoying questions of what your life would be like if things had been different, or if you had made a different choice.

Is it possible to reconnect with that lost love?  If Hollywood movies are any indication, it happens all the time, and is always a really funny story.  This is not Hollywood, and while I do often smile, this story isn't all that funny.  Not even looking back.

 Hollywood and cheesy romance novels aside, I want to give those reading this some hope.  I guess it does happen from time to time.  It happened to me.  This is the story.

I met him my freshman year of high school.  He remembers what I wore the first time he saw me, even before we met.  We were young.  We quickly became friends.  We talked on the phone so much that every time he called, my mom would roll her eyes and sigh in exasperation.  We would spend hours on my front porch, just talking and having fun.  We didn't do much, we just sat and talked.  It was so easy talking to him.

He developed feelings for me, that at the time, I didn't reciprocate.  I was infatuated with another guy.  One of those silly high school crushes that linger on in your mind for what seems like an eternity.  At some point he got tired of waiting for me, and moved on.  Right around the same time, I started to like him a lot more.  Maybe it has to do with me.  I want what I can't have.  At that point, I couldn't have him.  This went on back and forth for a while.  It never got us anywhere.  We kissed a few times, and still spent a lot of time together, or talking on the phone. 

He was my best friend.  I trusted him completely.  Little by little, though, we grew apart.  He started hanging out with a different group of people, I became more focused on school, and we spent less and less time together.  There was never a clear point where we stopped hanging out.  It sort of happened slowly, when i wasn't looking.  All of a sudden, he wasn't there any more. 

I dated guys here and there.  He dated girls here and there.  Then I got pregnant and moved away.  I still thought about him, though.  I moved back home, and found his family was still living right up the street.  I stopped in, and found out he was getting married, and was expecting his first kid.  I was floored.  Again, I want what I can't have.  I did something stupid.  I wrote him a letter.  I never got a response, and I didn't really expect one.  His fiance didn't really like me from the word go.  I can't blame her.  Not entirely, anyway.

Years went by.  I never forgot about him.  I kept in touch with his family a little, and with mutual friends.  I heard bits and pieces about how he was doing.  Then one day, he shows up.  Out of the blue, just shows up!  It was amazing!  I could hardly believe it.  I wanted to grab him and hold onto him.  Of course, by this point he was married and I was in a relationship.  We had both moved on, sort of.  We talked about our lives, and about our kids.  I had one, and he was expecting his second.  He didn't seem happy, though.  Maybe it was wishful thinking?  Or was it??

That brief visit was followed by six years of no contact again.  He wasn't allowed to talk to me.  His wife forbade it.  He was my best friend above all else, and I couldn't even talk to him.  During that time, I got married, lost my son, had my daughter, and got divorced.  I had only moved back home a few short months before he popped back into my life again.

He found me through one of those social networking sites, and we talked online and on the phone.  One day he calls and asks where I am.  Next thing I know, he is pulling into my driveway!!!  We talked for hours.  And, once again, as quickly as he was back in my life, he was gone again.  Back to his wife once more. 

 Like I said, I don't know about happily ever after.  But, all stories must have an end, of sorts.  Here is the rest of the story.

Would I have to wait another six years?  Thankfully, the answer is no.  I got a call a few months later.  He and his wife had separated.  I hated seeing my best friend in so much pain.  I had been through what he was going through.  I did the best I could to help him.  I gave him advice when I thought he needed it, told him what I had been through, and most importantly, just listened to him.  We fostered our long lost friendship through this.  It was strange.  It was like we just picked up where we left off.  it was as if those years in between had never happened. 

I disagree with something from Hollywood.  In "When Harry Met Sally", they say men and women can't be friends.  He was always my best friend.  He knows me better than anyone.  I am not talking about stupid little facts and useless information about everything I have ever done, but who I am.  He understands me, he gets me.  The love that had always been there was awakened from it's deep sleep. 

A year and a half after he showed up on my doorstep, we now share a home, a love and a family.  I love him and I love his boys as if they were my own.  he loves me and my daughter the same.  Is it perfect?  By no means.  Is it right?  Absolutely.  I have never been happier, and while we sometimes fight (usually over stupid stuff), we always talk and listen to each other. 

So, it can happen.  I am proof of that.  I have re-captured that one that got away.  And it's neither a fish tale or a fairy tale.  It is a tale of real life, a struggle through the challenges that get thrown in your way, and finding a way.  Love will always find a way.  This means more to me now that it ever has.  Our first Valentine's Day together is just around the corner, and I hope to make it special!