When I was nineteen years old, just a kid, I got married for the wrong reason. Obligation. Obligation to my family and obligation to my unborn child.
I can’t regret it because I have my three incredible sons who I love more than anything in this world, including myself.
They wanted for nothing, and I watched them grow into the amazing young men they all are. I got to watch them all fall madly in love and choose their life partners. Not out of obligation, but out of pure love.
I even got to watch my wonderful ex-husband fall madly in love. It just wasn’t with me. He was never in love with me. In all fairness, I was never in love with him either.
I became everyone’s project. Everyone wanted to fix me up with their son, their brother, their friend, their neighbor, their co-worker, their father.
No one cared what I wanted. Frankly, I wasn’t always sure what I wanted. I was never given the time when I was younger to figure out what it was I wanted in a partner.
One-hundred and eighteen first dates. After my divorce, I went on one-hundred and eighteen first dates before I figured out what I wanted and who I wanted it with.
It took a marriage, a divorce, and one-hundred and eighteen first dates to fall in love for the first time in my life. I finally found everything I never knew I was looking for. The man that made me feel things I’d never felt.
That’s supposed to be when happily ever after kicks in, right?
It took me fifty-two years to find that man. I shouldn’t have expected things to come that easily. Falling in love with him was the easy part. It’s everything that came after that was hard.
I’m Melissa Knight. This is my love story (it’s about damn time).