After everything that has happened with my relationships, I really started to try to figure myself out and what I wanted in a person to be my partner. I looked at what various dating sites on the internet do to match people up and found one called OKCupid and created a profile followed by answering about 1500 questions about myself, how I expected the right person to answer the same question, and how much I valued the answer to that question. I found that all of the “good matches” were only looking for material things and wanted nothing to do with real love.
One night I was sitting here thinking about Uncle Johnny, and something he told me just kind of stuck in my mind. He had said what a wonderful companion the Japanese lady was that lived with him for 25 years and how much he missed her after she passed away. He talked about how she would want to do the same things he did together. I widened my search to anywhere in the world and one of the highest matches that came up in the search was Eve. Her profile reflected that she was a true Christian and how she believes in God and the Bible. I sent her a message and said, “Hello from the other side of the world”. - Later we chatted and discovered that we shared many of the same core values and had a lot in common to talk about.
Chatting together seemed almost magical and many times we would chat and the time would just slip away. We could talk about any subject and anything that was on our minds. Hardly a day went by that we didn’t chat, and the more we talked, the closer we seemed to get. I knew Eve is a very special lady because without being asked, she would say things to me that no one would openly say. She would say things like how marriage requires commitment. She told me how important family is to her and that if the two of us would ever get together she wanted her kid and my kid to be one family, and not hers’ and his like in my previous relationship.
For Valentine’s Day, to make Eve understand that things were truly real and that I am honest and sincere, I sent her flowers and teddy bears for her and her daughter, Mae. I was very excited about making that happen, and was overjoyed when she was happy to receive such a present. Afterward, she started to believe that our relationship was a lot more than just chatting on the computer.
She had sent me endless pictures of her, her family, and friends. At one point, she had even sent me a video of her house. While she was very beautiful, I was more attracted to her from a mental point of view. We had exchanged several emails and it seemed like every day I found myself more and more attracted to her.
After Valentine’s Day, she gave me her phone number. I was so excited that I called her without thinking about how expensive it might be. We talked for hours and then a few days later I put an international plan on my phone thinking it would apply to previous calls too. I was a little shocked by the $400+ phone bill but most of that was from the first phone call, but it was worth it. I wanted better communication and I had been investigating what would be involved if our relationship continued. Her computer wasn’t very good and I thought about just sending her a computer from here, but after some investigation, I realized I should just get her a computer from her own country. It was very clear to me that buying her a notebook would make communications much better, and while she didn’t ask for me to buy her a notebook, I bought one from the Philippines on eBay and had it shipped to her house.
There were nights when we would all cook dinner, and eat together, just over Skype. It wasn’t as good as being there in person, but it was nice. Every little thing just seemed to make our love for each other grow. Sometimes it seemed like a plant growing out of control, but we had strength and depth because of our core beliefs. This was certainly something that I have never experienced.
One day in March, I sent a greeting card to Eve. She had tried to send one to my son, Michael, but it kept getting returned. So wrote her a love letter and mailed it to her. The next day a card arrived from her, and I really couldn’t believe my eyes. Her writing was so neat and clear that I thought it was a computer font until my son noticed subtle differences between letters. I was blown away and somewhat ashamed because my penmanship doesn’t even come close to hers. I was so impressed that I had to show my friends. It seemed like everything she did just made me love her more. By that point, I was convinced that I had to meet her in person, and soon.
My birthdays have a bad history, and this year it wasn’t much of an exception. There I was after my 2nd failed marriage sitting at home alone on my birthday. I had previously planned to be in the Philippines on my birthday, but due to things beyond my control it didn’t work out that way. Eve knew that I was having trouble with things and she organized her friends, bought a cake, and celebrated my birthday with me over Skype. It was one of the coolest things ever. Eve really went to great lengths to make sure I had a good birthday, even though I was on the other side of the world.
We began to plan my trip to meet her in person. I really wanted to put her in charge of everything that I could because I wanted to see her way of doing things . We talked about what to do while I was there and came up with several ideas. I wanted to see her family and friends and I wanted to see life from her point of view. So we made some plans, I sent her the money to pay the expenses, and everything was set for the big day when we would meet in person for the first time.
On Saturday April 23rd my son Michael drove me to the airport and I began the 23 hour journey to finally meet this incredible woman who was the love of my life. I truly felt like God brought us together because things fell into place much easier than expected. It was a really long flight and the anticipation of meeting Eve in person didn’t allow me much sleep. I landed, got my luggage, and after a few minutes I saw this van with a great big banner that had my name on it, and Eve, her daughter, and friends walked up to me. I was blown away, she was more beautiful in person than all the video or pictures I had seen, and they were both just incredible. Plus her friends came with her and they were so nice and friendly. Words just can’t describe my feelings.
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When we got to the hotel, there was some confusion about my reservation but with Eve’s help we got it straightened out and everyone went up to check out the room and take pictures of us all together.. At one point while taking pictures I reached down and picked Eve up and was shocked that she was light enough for me to easily pick her up and hold her. I guess if there is a heaven on Earth, it was right there with Eve and her daughter Mae .
Eve and I spent two days in the hotel. We went shopping together to find some food and gifts like chocolate for the friends that helped us make the trip happen. We also looked for some clothes to wear to the beach. We even met Eve’s friend, Denise, during her lunch break and we had lunch at the mall.
I was determined to try to eat the native food so that I could experience the food that Eve and Mae were accustomed to eating. I found it easier when I discovered that she is a fantastic cook, even when she doesn’t have everything that she needs to make a dish. Later while at the beach house she would just walk a few doors away to a fisherman and get sea food and prepare it.
The next night we spent at Eve’s house, and I got to experience the hot weather that made everyone think I would melt. Eve made me carry around a towel to wipe the sweat off my face. I wanted to experience the way Eve and Mae lived first had so that I would really know the difference between my home in the U.S. and her home in the Philippines. It was very interesting and the different construction techniques were a bit surprising, but her father had done a fantastic job designing and building Eve’s home.
The following day we started the trip to the beach in Calatagan, Batangas. This was about a 90km trip and because I was used to traveling in the U.S. I was thinking it would have taken about an hour. I couldn’t have been more wrong, but the ride was fun except for seeing a very bad truck accident were Eve told me that someone died because a candle was placed at the accident scene. Several of Eve’s friends went with us to the beach house. Also her friend Jungle (Rommel) had an uncle that was a retired police chief in the area and when we stopped in town to get food at the market he arranged for us to have some extra protection since I was a tourist. It was dark by the time we arrived at the beach house, but I love the beach so just the sound of the ocean was really nice. At one point Eve and I walked out onto the beach and I was shocked when I looked up at the stars and could see so many stars because there wasn’t light wash like there is in the U.S.
The days that followed at the beach house were incredible. We didn’t have hot water and the people were poor, but everyone was happy and that really surprised me. Poor people in the U.S. aren’t usually very happy people. One little boy named Reggie was the caretaker’s son, and he was extremely helpful, making sure we didn’t swim in the wrong places and helping Eve by running errands. Eve really impressed me during the whole time. She was doing so much that at one point I could see she was getting tired and I took her outside to sit and rest for a while after she had cut up some fresh fish. As time progressed and I knew that I would be returning home, I really didn’t want that day to come. I wanted to enjoy every minute.
Like everything, the day for my return trip came. I was tired and probably should have slept more, but I didn’t want to miss anything. I had fallen very much in love with Eve, and the return trip home was one of the hardest things I have had to do in a long time.
I am very much in love with Eve, not only are we in love with each other, but we are best friends. Words cannot describe just how much we both want to spend the rest of our lives together.
