True love waits: Reunited with my soulmate after 30 years

Lynda Cooper, now 45, was devastated when her relationship with childhood sweetheart Drew Blake, now 47, ended when she was 16. But a twist of fate 30 years later proved that true love really does wait…

Standing in the hall of my mum’s flat I waited for the doorbell to ring.

I was only 14 but for weeks Drew Blake, then 16, had been coming round selling pools for Worcester City Football Club.

He was so good looking and I always made sure I cornered him for a chat.

Then one he turned to me and said: “Want to go see ‘Grease’ with me?”

My stomach flipped. “Yes!” I exclaimed

After our date we were inseparable. Just a couple of months later we were snuggling up on my sofa when Drew stared into my eyes and told me he loved me.

“I love you too,” I replied.

I knew I was young but I was sure what I felt was real.

One day we out shopping when drew bought me a silver heart-shaped necklace.

As he clasped it around my neck I knew I never wanted to be without it.

Over the next two years we were never apart for any longer than a couple of hours. But things changed when my mum moved us to Kettering.

For a few months we tried to keep in touch, but eventually our relationship fizzled out.

I was devastated and would cry for hours at a time. I’d take out the necklace and just stare at it, remembering those times I’d had with Drew.

But I knew I had to try and move on. I met a new man, married him and had three beautiful children, but I never felt the way I had done about Drew.

Every year I would secretly make the 20 mile trip to Drew’s mum’s cafe in Worcester and wear my necklace.

I’d sit and chat to Margaret and would hear segments of Drew’s life. She told me he was married and she wished he’d married me instead.

When I’d leave the cafe I’d give Margaret a card with an Alsatian on the front – Drew’s favourite animal.

But then Margaret sold the cafe and with that any contact I could’ve had with Drew ceased.

When my marriage ended after nine years I still dreamt I could be reunited with Drew.

Then one day in December 2009 I logged onto social networking site and typed in Drew’s name and his son Anthony came up.

Nervously I typed : “Sorry to bother you, but is your grandmother’s name Margaret?”

The following day I received a reply saying it was the right person.

Excitement and nerves rushed through me as I explained I had been a friend of Margaret’s but we’d lost touch.

Within a couple of hours Anthony had replied : ” I asked my dad if he knew you before and my nan, also if you would like I can pass on your number?”

Later that day I received a text message saying: “How you doing these days?”

It was the text I’d been dreaming of for nearly 30 years.

Within 45 minutes I heard a familiar voice on the other end of the telephone.

“I always got your cards,” he said to me. “I knew they were from you, but I was a married man.

Then he told me that he and his wife were divorcing.

“I’m divorced with three children,” I stuttered.

“I used to drive past your old house and look up at the window,” confided Drew.” I always thought of you as the one that got away.”

We spoke on the phone for hours and frantically arranged to meet each other two days later on the 3rd of January this year.

Before I left I carefully tucked my necklace I’d cherished for so long in my purse.

I stood on my mum’s drive waiting for Drew.

He leapt out of his car and kissed me passionately. It felt like the old days.

“I can’t believe it’s you,’ I said as I stared at him.

“You haven’t changed one bit,” he whispered in my ear.

We chatted so quickly in that first hour as we made up for lost time.

“Look what I still have,” I said. Taking out my purse I showed him the necklace.

“I can’t believe you still have that,” he replied, grinning widely.

Immediately we knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. Age had only proven that we couldn’t live without each other.

On January 8th, five days after meeting up after 30 years we decided to move in together in Worcester and later this year when Drew’s divorce is finalised we are going to get married abroad.

It’s like we’ve never been apart, we are just really picking up from where we left off 30 years ago.

I always wished that I’d be reunited with Drew and now I know that true love really does wait.

Image courtesy of Craft*ology