When I was 15, I met a girl and we fell in love.  We were as close as two kids could be for about a year, until she informed me that she was moving to another state.  It was heartbreaking for both of us and I'll never forget the sadness of watching her drive away in a packed car.

We kept in touch for about six months, but as kids in high school, of course we both went on to other relationships and moved on with our lives.  We lost contact, but I never completely stopped thinking about her.

Well, eleven years passed along with many relationships (including a couple of serious ones).  One day I had finished playing a round of golf with a friend and I was driving home to my townhouse.  I decided to stop off at my neighborhood Winn Dixie...the one I always went to...to pick up a few things.  Well, lo and behold I push my cart around the end of an aisle and almost collide with another cart...I look at the girl pushing the other cart to apologize...and there she is.  We were both literally unable to speak for several seconds...much to the dismay and confusion of the guy who was with her.  She looked as great as she did when we were teenagers.  When I composed myself I said hello...I didn't know if the guy was her husband, boyfriend, or what...so I kept the conversation very light "how have you been", "so you moved back to Florida".  I mentioned to her that I lived near in the area and I was in real estate.  Her friend was getting restless so, heart still pounding heavily, I said it was nice seeing her and we moved on.

Of course we passed each other on every aisle, and we were on check-out lines beside one another.  Heart still pounding, trying not to stare.

I left, went home, unpacked the groceries and literally had to take a walk to calm myself down.  I thought that was the end of it.

The next day I went to work and at about 9:30 I got a call from someone identifying herself as the girl's (my old girlfriend's) sister.  Said she was calling on her sister's behalf, heard I was in real estate, called the Department of Professional Regulation (the sister worked for a local congressman) and found out where I worked.  Would I want to have lunch with her sister?

Of course I did.  We met for lunch, neither of us could eat a bite of food, I learned the guy was just a non-serious boyfriend.

Well, to make a long story short, the connection was instant and amazingly powerful.  We became instantly serious, got married soon thereafter, had two beautiful kids, and then divorced about 14 years later.

Moral to the story:  skip the #badword#ing date.