True love arrives in your life when you least expect it
I hope everyone had a nice Valentine’s Day. Last Thursday, I was blessed with meeting a newlywed couple, Ken and Kathy Belka.
Ken and Kathy’s marriage reminded me that a second chance at love is possible even much later in life. It’s the second marriage for both of them, and it follows a combined 98 years of previous successful marriages.
What’s special about Ken and Kathy’s love is their mutual respect and passion for their deceased spouses.
A lesson I learned from this remarkable couple is that love is something that arrives in your life when you least expect it. It’s something you can’t plan for or anticipate.
Sometimes it flows over you like a gentle wave. Or it knocks you off your feet with the force of a million punches.
In Ken’s case, Kathy’s beauty from across the room socked him one. He knew after one glance that she was the one for him.
My grandpa, Jim Wilkins, fell in love instantly when he became childhood friends with his future wife, Carol. He even told his dad so. He said, “Carol is going to be my lady some day!”
When Grandpa Jim shipped off to the Merchant Marines, he was stationed in Seattle and fell in love with the beauty of the Northwest.
He wrote Carol a love letter and asked her to travel from Minnesota to Seattle. He told her, “It’s beautiful out here and you have to see it.”
My Grandma Carol made the trek. Soon after she arrived, she and Jim married in downtown Renton and made their home there. They raised three children: my mother, Mary Sue, and her two siblings, Jamie and Judy.
I’m a sucker for a great love story. And my grandparents’ love story ranks among the best in my book.
My grandparents’ marriage of 63 years is my benchmark model for a great marriage. And so is my parents’ marriage of 39 years this August. My parents and my grandparents have taught me what a good marriage is made of.
Finding that true love for me hasn’t been as easy as it was for my parents and grandparents. But I’m not keeping score. I know I will find her some day.
My divorce this past year stung. But I’m recovering and growing in a new relationship.
From the Belkas’ example, I know that God gives people second chances at love. And from them, I know love can be found anywhere.
For the Belkas, it happened on a dance-room floor. For my grandparents, it happened in childhood friendship. For my parents, it happened at college.
And in this new age of dating, I found companionship online.
Who knows if my new relationship will spring into long-lasting love. Right now, I’m riding a gentle wave and enjoying the journey.
Reach Puyallup reporter Andrew Fickes at 253-841-2481 Ext. 313 or email at andrew.fickes@puyallupherald.com.
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