also totally homesick for my friends and family. I traveled across the country with Hope and brought her back to South Florida to meet everyone I had left behind. I knew that my time spent in the mountains was to find Hope and bring her home.” She was a beautiful baby, with hair like sugar and piercing blue eyes. I was head over heels in love with my new favorite girl. Life had given me the best gift by far—blessing me with little Hope.
Even with Hope, my life puzzle seemed to be missing a few key pieces. I was under a terribly misguided impression that I had holes in places of my life that needed to be filled. Even my close friends were nudging me to hurry up and find the right guy. As if my wanting a man should have made him materialize at my doorstep. Everyone in my circle of friends was already married, or divorced by my age. Finding my soul mate was brainteaser that had somehow evaded me. I was left to contemplate why only half of the puzzle was mine? I was way behind the family unit, gas-guzzling SUV curveball— by a long country mile.
The inception of online dating happened to be a man miracle for me. I could stay home with my daughter and shop for men online from the comfort of my living room. I started the journey of online man hunting back in the dark ages of the late 90s. I think my giant desktop computer may have been carved out of stone—not kidding! That antiquated time was prior to the couch-lounging laptops and tablets that I adore so much today. After a few years of online dating, I had become remarkably well-versed in the vast sea of logging on and finding lust.
4). Trent
Meeting Trent was a tornado that blew the doors off my life. I found Trent while I was scrolling through dozens of local profiles. In only six short months we went from first date to getting hitched in “The Biggest Little City in the World”. Our courtship landed us in Reno to begin our eternal commitment to one another. Our dating life was a whirlwind from the moment I clicked the “send message" button. My first email to him was a brief wink, wink—a cyber-flirt, shall I say. He quickly responded to my email with interest. Shortly after we made our connection, we met in person. Right away, I knew that Trent would have an impact on my life. There have been times when I have met people and from that moment on, I knew that my life had forever changed. Meeting Trent was one of those defining moments. At first, I did not know what the change meant in the grand scheme of things, but the world as I had known it had been thrown off its axis—or rather, its ass.
Trent was a bit of a male peacock from the moment we met at a quaint Italian bistro located in a Coral Springs strip mall. Trent had jet-black hair, extremely green eyes, and well-defined upper body. He dressed nice and I caught a whiff of him that smelled like a cocktail mix of success and Crave by Calvin Klein. His smile brightened him up a notch from just “okay” looking, to skirting the good-looking side of the fence. He worked hard to get where he was in life and he had some expensive toys to show for it. We had a lot of things in common from the second we began unraveling our interests. Spending time with him always had an air of excitement about it. We were quickly wrapped up in a ball of infatuation that was impossible to break free from. We were both in perfect places in our lives to be in a new relationship and start life built around each other. The stars may have been in alignment for us, but as time would reveal, we would find ourselves dancing around in the wrong universe—all the way to Reno Nevada.
My trampy silver heels made me look as flashy as a Kentucky-bred mare on race day. I pranced across the casino floor, imagining how deliriously brilliant married life would be. I was a little more svelte thanks to my pre wedding, no carb diet, and growling stomach. Going to sleep hungry for a month had really paid off in spades. I had a bit more swagger