Worth waiting for

In November of 2005 my life was forever changed when I went to a seminar on investing in stocks in NYC. No, I didn't make a boat load of money in the stock market. Actually, I never even looked at a stock since. At the beginning of the second day of the seminar, the speaker asked us to greet the person on our left and the person on our right and tell them where we were going to vacation with all the money we were going to make investing in stocks. Well, as was typical back then, I had positioned myself in the second to back row with a curtain to my right and four empty chairs to my left....I was in the clear. Then, this girl who was sitting in the back, leaned over and said "Hi, I'm Marie I'm going to Africa...where are you going?" I managed to say " I'm Stephen, I'm going to Greece" Then, a strange thing happened, just like that, for the rest of the day I wasn't thinking about what stocks I would invest in when I got home anymore. We talked a little at the break and then when we were leaving I stalled and pretended like I was getting my stuff together until she was leaving. Then, I got up the nerve to ask her for her number to "talk about stocks". We walked in the rain until she got to her train stop and then when she went down to the subway, I scramble for her number to make sure I didn't lose it. I remember thinking to myself "what's happening to me?". I was 35 years old and I had never felt this before, not even close. This was it, she was it...I was in love. There was one problem, I would later find out...she really did exchange numbers to "talk about stocks".
We emailed a few times in the next few weeks, then I told her about a workshop I was doing and she did it too. She said she trusted me. I was going for "I'm madly in love with you", but that was a start. Over the next few months we became really good friends.....well, she became really good friends. I became hopelessly in love. I went on a couple dates during this time. When I was on the date, I remember thinking "I wish this girl would stop talking, she's interrupting me thinking about Marie". So, I waited...I would like to say patiently, but not so much. We would go out on "friend dates" and I would throw in at some point "are you sure you don't want to give it a try?"
Then, on March 6Th, 2006, 18 years later (OK, it was only 4 months...18 years in "in love" years)...it happened! I can't even tell you what happened. We didn't say or do anything...we just both knew we weren't going to be just friends anymore. So, 35 years of barely a prospect and 4 months of one-sided love and a lifetime with the woman of my dreams. I would say that is worth waiting for.