LOVE'S TAKEN OVER

BY FELICIA LEWIS

Dang... how the hell is he still fine 25 years later?

Yep, that’s what I said in my head as I watched him walk down the left aisle of the church to view the body of our mutual friend, who was his childhood best friend. Wow.... he didn’t even seem to notice me as he took his seat by his twin brother five rows behind me.

Oh well, that’s ok. I’m good anyway. I don’t need a man getting on my nerves. I’m finally free after 21 years of marriage. Who wants the responsibility of learning someone anyway at this age (I was 51)? God, all I want is a travel buddy...

How quickly had I forgotten that just 2 weeks prior, after 4 years of being single, I had finally told God that I was ready to open my heart to give and receive love again? Then it happened...

As I was coming back to reality, checking myself for thinking about Kelvin’s fineness in the church, he stood right in front of me, then gave me a big, much-needed hug. Then he sat next to me and made small talk that became very interesting once he shared that his 17-year marriage had ended in divorce as well. His divorce was final exactly a week after mine. We still joke and laugh about him not asking me for my number that day.

A month later, his twin brother, who I considered a real friend, called to make sure I was ok with him giving Kelvin my number. Two days later, I got the call from K-Man himself and as they say, the rest is history.

We talked daily for hours. He shared his past hurts, his heart, and how he healed from his divorce. I shared my healing journey as well. We laughed about how we went out once 26 years ago when Tasha, the sister of our deceased mutual friend, had set us up on a date. All we both remembered from that date was that we went to Pappadeaux, that we both smiled a lot, and that we had no idea why neither of us followed up. Who would have ever thought that we’d get the chance again?

We shared our future 5-year, 10-year, and 20-year goals. We shared our aches and pains, our credit scores, our hobbies, our mutual love for God, and how we were both finally ready for love and companionship again. God gave me my travel buddy and then some.

We decided to give it a year before we made any major decisions. During that year, we started going to church together. We learned each other’s quirks, likes, dislikes, dreams, and goals. We discussed our bucket lists. We bonded over our love of photography. We talked about where we’d live IF we worked out. A typical date for us was dinner and driving around the city of Houston for hours. It felt good being in the passenger seat for a change. As a native Houstonian, there were parts of our city that I didn’t even know existed.

He developed a bond with my teenage son and my 2 cats. He cared about every single aspect of Felicia. Fast forward... that year came quickly. The original plan was that in a year, we’d either say, “thank you, it’s been a fun ride, see ya!” Or, “let’s take this to the next level.”

I’m so happy to say that Kelvin surprised me and proposed to me on March 5th in Cancun, Mexico – on the beach in front of our friends (who were all in on it), in front of a lighthouse, which I absolutely love. One death brought two people life. That day could not have been any more perfect.

The beauty of second chances is the second time around can be better than the first because you’ve done the work, made the mistakes, and you know what’s expected from one another. You walk with a different level of confidence which takes no shorts or excuses. You don’t settle, and you don’t play or accept games. Our love is calm, it’s giving, it’s equal, it’s real, and it’s sexy. It’s beautiful, and it’s us.

I got my travel buddy, and as Chante Moore says, “Baby, Love’s Taken Over!”