How do you know?

My Grandparents with my cousin Mathew in June 1982

If you have yet to read my other blogs, they are essentially just some thoughts that have ultimately shaped the story I am currently writing. I had a concept in my head of the book I wanted to write but never really knew how I wanted the story to develop or how to even begin. I guess a series of life experiences helped to cement some of the ideas and this time around I have managed to get passed the roadblock of 200 words (that's right, I have attempted to write this several times and only made the 200 word mark). Yesterday the story hit the 77,000 word mark... I can't believe I have written 77,000 words.

Anyway, enough of my shock that I have actually physically written 77,000 words (and still going). While I was writing yesterday, there was a section where I was thinking, 'how do you know? How do you really know that you have met the one.' We've all been on dates, we've all got preconceived ideas of who we think we should fall in love with but nobody prepares you for when it finally happens or who that person ends up being. I got to thinking about both sets of my Grandparents. I have one set that are thankfully still around and living it up in their 80's, the wonderful Pat and Merve, they met in their teens and are still happily married to this day. You'll often see Merve the Swerve up the legion with Pat on his arm.

Then I have my other set of Grandparents who are sadly no longer with us, Eddie and Yvonne. I've put the picture of them above with my cousin Mathew. I bet Mathew will love the fact I have highlighted his age by specifying when the photo was taken. I was thinking about them yesterday because I always loved their story. I think you can tell from the picture above that they were always very much in love; I can imagine that they had tough years but they made it through together and always with a smile on their faces.

My Nana, Yvonne, was a dancer and at 17 she left home and toured the country with a dance troop. She was working in Morecombe in 1952 when she spotted the drummer in the big band, a young man by the name of Eddie. My Nana went over to her best friend and said "that is the man I am going to marry." My Nana was always full of such confidence in her conviction that I have no doubt she knew, but she was so confident that she said it out loud. Later on my Nana would go on to discover that on the very same day my Grandad wrote a letter to his sister Dulcie saying that he had just seen the girl he was going to marry.

My Nana would have been 17/18 at that time and yet she knew in that one meeting that Eddie was the one. Also, the bit that always gets me is that he knew too. They had barely spoken to each other but they knew. I find it amazing now I know how young they were when they met and of how certain they were of each other. It's funny in the modern age that if a 17 year old told you that they were going to marry a guy they had just met, you would think they were crazy. Yet to the day my Grandparents both passed away, they were very much in love.

I know it's very soppy but growing up I always remember them both laughing. My Nana's hearty laugh and my Grandads almost mischievous Mutley style laugher. I think that was a pretty strong sign that at their tender young ages they were right to be certain; which leads me back to my first question... How did they know? How do any of us know?

Is it science? Chemistry? Fate? I love hearing other peoples love stories, as well as physically living out my own but I particularly loved my Grandparents story. The story makes the hairs on the back of my neck go up - not that I have many, I am a lady. I love the fact that on the same day after only knowing each other for a few hours, that they had the self-belief to tell their closest confidants that, 'I have just met the person I am going to marry.'

It was hearing this story that made me think: I will write this bloody book!! I realised how many people enjoy hearing a love story and maybe the idea wasn't so bad after all. I think the majority of us will confess to having hope that we have a soul mate and that we love the stories about 'fateful' meetings. Obviously there is a lot more to the story I have written, this is just one element of it. However, I guess there is a mini battle in the main characters self-belief and self-realisation. I guess the most successful love stories stem from at least one person having confidence in what they are feeling and taking that nerve racking first step...