Thérèse D.

When I first joined SFI in August, 2018 I had just come out of a bitter divorce. I was optimistically hopeful, but not overwhelmingly assured that I would find a match. On the first sit down to look at profiles, I picked only one man: a French Canadian gentleman whose written profile fit all my points had an unique look, which automatically told me he was self-confident. That only made him more desirable. Instead of all the peacocks dressed in flashy Armani suits and polo shirts, which wreaked of my narcissistic ex-husband, he wore jeans, cool, unique shirts, a black head wrap and had a pony tail. He was a retired dentist and major in the Canadian forces with properties in both Florida and Canada. His interests, background and education fit that of my Seven-Sister college Alma Mater and retirement as a Wall Street VP. That's it. My search was over. However, it was off-season and he was in Canada. He did not leave his contact information there and SFI couldn't produce him, even for a rejection. Keep in mind, this guy was extraordinarily handsome, so now I'm thinking he's a model and not real. I brought my case to American Express and won. I got my money refunded. I though SFI was a scam.

Not so fast. He returned to Florida from Canada like all Snowbirds in October and for the third (and according to him, because he was striking out with lousy dates for two years prior, last) year, he stepped into the SFI office and picked me. SFI didn't tell him I was no longer part of the club-they just gave him what he wanted. They contacted me and asked if I remembered the Canadian gentleman that I had picked? Well, he was back and picked me and would like to take me out, if I was still willingly. I accepted and we hit it off immediately.

It was a one-in-a-million chance that we picked each other and started to date. The stats become even more astronomical that we fell in love and were married within six months. We've now been happily married for four years.

Over the years, we discovered that SFI may not have been our true matchmaker, however. It was probably God Himself.

He is a direct descendant of an original settler of an island off of Quebec City in Canada from1687. There is a stone monument erected to his ancestors/family on the island and a street named after them. I myself, without this knowledge, visited this island three times in my life. I first went with my parents at age 8, then with my first husband in 1996 and then for my 20th anniversary with my 2nd husband in October 2016. At that time, my ex and I were in a good place, so no worries. However, as we were driving around, I passed a large unmarked metal cross at an unmarked crossroad in an open field. I snapped a pic because I suddenly felt a chill. I looked to the right and told my ex to drive that way for no good reason. There was nothing of importance to me at the time, so we just turned around and went to other places. When I got a chance, I posted the cross on Facebook and mention how the crossroad left me with a feeling that I was going to have to make an important decision soon, so I asked my friends to pray that I made the right one. At that exact same time I met my crossroad in October, 2016, the Canadian who was to become the Love of My Life, after 57 years of military life, living alone and having no-commitment weekend only relationships, suddenly decided to change the man he had been and search out a forever relationship. He joined SFI. While I suffered through my divorce, he suffered through lackluster dates for two years and then we finally found each other. Or maybe we found each other BEFORE that day 11/25/2018.

I was playing with my iPhone and pressed the picture of the cross at the crossroad. Up came the map. I never bothered to Google Map the roads. The crossroad was the cross of the street were his family's monument stands and the road in his family's name. I had already found him in October, 2016! Could that collision have caused him at that very moment to join SFI, changing the very nature of a 57 year old man set in his ways to seek happiness with someone rather than remain alone? We were already on the road to meeting each other almost two years to the day before we actually met.

I'm not Jewish, but my Jewish friend told me it is called Bershert (sp), which she said means it is written in the stars. Don't give up. Everyone has a story written in the stars.