Calling all love stories: Happiness after 50

My blogging friend Joanie from Joanie's Random Ramblings has always been a huge supporter of Under the Sheets~shhh and I look forward to getting her comments. So I was excited to have her guest post about her love story "Happiness after 50". Take it away Joanie...
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This is the story of John and how we met, quite by accident.... on the internet.

As you may know, I found myself suddenly single at the age of 49. I never, in my wildest dreams, imagine I'd be single again. Widowed maybe but not divorced! That happened to other people. Apparently I am other people.

I joined several online dating sites... match.com, yahoo personals, etc. EHarmony said I needed to be legally divorced to join. I met a few guys and found almost all of them to be married, ick! There were a few I chatted with for months and month and no meeting. This went on for about a year and a half. And I'll admit I wasn't the most sane person at the time. Desperate for affection, hoping to find someone to love again, I met some real winners!

I was just resigning myself to a life of solitude and living alone when I found this site called True Beginnings. I can't even tell you how I found it, if it was via email or an ad on a game site or whatever. It offered 3 days free, so I figured what the hell, I'll fill in the blanks and see what happens. I put up a real picture of myself and was very honest about me. Once or twice a week, true would send me an email with 12 guys who matched my criteria. I never ever made the first move! I'm way too insecure for that!!

One day, a month or so after I joined, I get an email from a guy who lives on the other side of the county. His message basically said "Hi! Thanks for the wink!" huh???? I didn't send anyone a wink! I'm too shy for that! So I look at his profile and thought that he seemed harmless looking in a grandfatherly sort of way and I respond with "Well, I didn't send a wink, but hi!" We exchanged info about ourselves. I'm 4th of 8 kids, he's 4th of 7 kids. He went to Catholic schools, so did I. He's a row house kid from Philly, I'm a row house kid from just outside the city.

We emailed back and forth for a few weeks and tried to get in a private chat room to talk and we couldn't figure out how to do it, so he gave me his phone number. I finally called him one evening. We were on the phone for more than 3 hours that night and an hour and half the next 2 times we talked! I learned a lot about him and he was quite honest about himself. John told me he was in the Army for 20 years, is now retired and working at a chemical company as a security guard and tutors kids in the evening in math and science. Then he told me he'd been married 4 times! I have no idea why I didn't hang up the phone right then and there! Was I that desperate? I was certainly interested!

We decided to meet, and he came to my work. We went to dinner and saw a movie and we really hit it off! I felt so comfortable with him! I'm happier now than I've been in many years. We've been together for 2 1/2 years now and we plan to stay together for the rest of our lives.

I don't know if we'll ever get married. John wants to get married but I don't want to, at least not yet! I promised John I'd marry him for his 63rd birthday! So that's our story and I'm sticking to it and thank you for letting me share with you.