“Our eyes met and our souls caught on fire.” ~Nikki Rowe

Dear Universe,

This past weekend I had my first in person event in over a year!

I had some trepidation leading up to it. I wondered if I would still have the same zest I always had for events. I wondered if I would be excited to be there doing my thing. Truthfully, I wondered if I still had a thing.

As I prepared for the day, and began getting everything in place, I started to have the feeling that it would be exactly what I needed to get my mojo back, and to get me back in the swing of things.

It was.

From the moment I was there setting up, I met other vendors around me—all warm, lovely and helpful. In fact, something was immediately offered to me when I arrived that I ended up using the whole day, and I felt it was the angels winking at me, letting me know it would be a divinely guided day.

It was.

Throughout the day, I met so many fabulous people. One of my favorite things about being at events is getting to interact with customers or audience members in person. I hear the most amazing stories, am touched by the synchronicities and everyone’s energy always amplifies mine. I always leave feeling more inspired than when I arrived.

The day flew by and just as I was about to pack up, a couple came in and found me.

As they looked at my jewelry line, and as I introduced myself, I immediately felt taken by them. Their energy was contagious.

To put it simply, this couple was lit up in love.

It was obvious from the way they couldn’t keep their hands off each other, the way they looked at each other like they were the only two people in the world and the way they couldn’t stop laughing together. It was a magnetic, hard to ignore vibe.

Finally, I couldn’t ignore it. I asked how long they had been together.

They locked eyes and laughed. “Funny story,” the woman said. Then she proceeded to share their journey to love.

She told me how they had a summer fling forty-five years ago. (I realized then they were in their sixties, though they looked much younger.) After that summer, they went their separate ways. He got married, as did she. They lived their lives. Decades went by.

Then about 4.75 years ago, the woman “ran away” from her husband. She was starting over. Several months went by and then she reached out to her old summer fling.

I asked her if it was weird to reach out after so long. She said it wasn’t as they had bumped into each other a couple of times through the years and that her cousin remained good friends with him.

She asked him out. She had built a school and invited him to come see it. He went.

A while into their meet-up, maybe sensing something he couldn’t put his finger on, he asked her, “Why am I here?”

She in turn asked him, “Do you have a sweetheart?”

He didn’t. He was now single too.

She said, “Well, I guess I’m here flirting with you then.”

And since that moment, they’ve been together.

The best part of hearing their story was watching her tell it. She looked at him the entire time, smile wide, eyes sparkling, and didn’t let go of his hand. She never once glanced my way, even though I was the one she was relaying the story to. I told her that too.

Their love story reminded me of a simple, yet sometimes hard to believe truth: What’s meant to be, will always find its way. It might take a decade or two or three or even forty-five years. It might seem impossible or improbable. It might feel out of reach or like some wild fantasy, but what’s for you always finds you.

I think so often people feel their dreams are just that—a dream they have no right wishing for. So they tuck it aside or bury it down, but if the dream is in you, it always resurfaces.

And it will keep resurfacing until you are ready to face it, chase it, be it or step into it. There comes a time when things align perfectly. It’s rarely on our time, and always in divine time.

I thought of the years this couple lost not being together, but only for a second. They didn’t seem worried about that. They were too caught up in the here and now and their obvious bliss for what they have, that there was no room for sadness. I doubt they even for a second thought of the decades gone by.

After all, perhaps they had to live their lives the way they did to get them where they are now—appreciating every moment together, honoring the happiness each brings to the other.

I watched them laugh and kiss like two teenagers having a summer fling. I told them, “You two have a lot of fun together.”

She said, “That’s our job—having fun.”

He smiled in return, agreeing with his love. She went on to tell me how he likes to surprise her with weekends away to romantic resorts.

“He likes to fly me places—Mexico, any beach really.”

I felt like I was watching some Nicholas Sparks novel play out in front of me.

But real life love stories are always so much better than anything the imagination can cook up.

These two stayed and talked to me for a while, but they were anxious to get back to the beach, where they had been all day. They explained they had left their chairs and cooler there to come by the event to support their friend (who organized the day). They wanted to get back to the beach, where they would be having dinner.

Like I said, real life always beats out fantasy. Real life can be better than you’re imagining, if you leave room for life to surprise you—if you follow your heart and your soul.

I shared this story on my Instagram, feeling someone may need to hear it. I was right. So many people messaged me, thanking me for relaying their love story. “This gives me hope,” a friend replied. “Amen,” another simply said. “I needed to hear this. Maybe there’s hope for me, after all.”

On and on the messages went. And so I felt I needed to write about it here too.

What’s for you won’t miss you. Time, distance, and circumstance are simply details. It’s our ego that makes them seem like obstacles or impossibilities. Our soul doesn’t believe in impossible when it comes to our deepest desires—and what’s meant for us.

After all, we planned it this way.

The Universe has a way of transforming and changing things around to make anything happen.

Our only job is to be honest with ourselves, listen to our heart’s calling, and to let ourselves be guided.

Our egos may distract or detour us, but ultimately that’s of little consequence.

Our souls know the way.

Quiet your mind and listen.

Quiet your mind and trust.

Quiet your mind and let yourself be guided by the gentle knowing leading you to your destiny.

It will be better than you can imagine.

With Gratitude,