In order to get to know Brett and Jen as a couple you must first understand who they were before they had met. I (Brett) am long time factory worker, whom in recent years had lost my last partner in life to cancer, and then more recently my mother to a brain aneurism. Jennifer had returned to school to become a physiotherapy assistant after losing her upper management position to downsizing. She herself had experienced great personal losses in the past couple of years, the first of which was her father to cancer and then her 15 yr old daughter to mental illness.
Needless to say, neither of us was in any way looking to start a new relationship, and neither of us would have if not for a common friend. On the days preceding February 14th 2015, this common friend had contacted both of us individually, insisting that we come to a Valentine ’s Day dinner with her and her current boyfriend. She told us that they were just going out to have fun, and we should in no way feel like a third wheel on what would normally be considered a romantic dinner…. But then again, she in no way informed either of us that she had also invited her ‘other’ friend whom she had wanted us to meet.
Needless to say in the weeks and months that followed that day, both Jen and I grew very fond of one another and fell very much in love. We learned to once again trust in someone, and that it was OK to smile and laugh again. In each other we have found someone kind and loyal, whom we can also depend on in our times of need, and as s couple, we had the ability to support one another fully. We found in each other what we didn’t realize had been missing from our lives, when we were least expected to find it.
In recent months Jennifer and I have been living together. She, I and her son Aiden have grown even closer as a family. While on vacation in Ottawa, I proposed to Jen and she said ‘yes’…
It funny how life seems to have such drastic ups and downs… life is good once again