I am no expert in matters of the heart.

In truth I have many regrets. I have hurt people and been hurt. But what I do believe is having a connection with someone that goes deeper than can be defined..well, that's what love is to me. If you have not found that person don't give up. Here is my story of finding true love later in life.

Secret files

Do you have a stash of saved treasures? A dusty box in the attic containing a few trinkets attached to special memories? I did. A file folder kept safely in a file box for over 30 years. Occasionally, sometimes spanning years, I would open the box and look in the folder. Cards addressed to me and a handful of photographs. I would look at them one by one with welling up with a feeling of a nostalgia. A simpler, sweeter time of love and...curiosity.

A little back story

I'll try to make this short just so there is a frame of reference. I am a 50 year old woman (wow, that's hard to see written down). I am an artist (an art director in the animation industry to be exact). I have been married twice, had a music career for about 15 years (drummer), and have been in several long-term relationships with very little "time off" in between. And at this point I had some time off.

The day that changed my life

2013 was turning out to be a good year. I was in a good space, working at home on a huge painting commission. I was looking for some paperwork in the file box and my eye caught a folder. Not the one I was looking for but THAT folder. I hadn't looked at it's contents for several years. I let my fingers do the walking and pulled it out of the box. There they were. The photos, cards and the last being a plaintive letter from Juvenile Hall. Almost every word committed to memory. Even his handwriting. These ancient artifacts I’ve been carrying around with me for over thirty years. Never to be discarded or forgotten. Just privately tucked away. My special memory that was uniquely mine. Before life happened.

Hmmm. I wonder whatever became of him?

A bit of detective work

The first and most obvious avenue was to look for him, let's call him Prince Charming, was Facebook. Turns out Prince Charming is a really common name and had no luck finding the right one. Then I did a Google image search and as I scanned each row of photos, page after page….wait, back up...is that him?? My heart began to pound. BINGO! A smile crept onto my face in joyous disbelief. I couldn't believe it! This boy who almost seemed to be an apparition of my memory was, indeed, real. It was a photo taken a few years after our time. He looked rather unlike his happy-go-lucky self I remember. I clicked on the photo and it took me to a genealogy website. There were a few pictures but no contact info and no current information. But I did notice Prince Charming’s brother was the web master. I then began a search for his brother on Facebook and found him fairly quickly. I immediately sent him this message and a photo.

Me

Hi, you wouldn't happen to be related to Prince Charming would you? If not please disregard.

Thanks, Damsel of the past.

Brother of Prince Charming

Yup, he's my brother. How do you know him?

(to be continued...)