Woman’s heartbreak 20 years on
A popular Facebook page that receives stories from readers about their bad, favourite or most memorable dates has broken hearts with a recent post.
Alita Brydon, the creator of Bad Dates of Melbourne, shared a story from a reader who devastatingly experienced grief and loss.
The storyteller notes that this happened to her 20 years ago, back when she was 29, and this is the first time she has shared the story publicly.
Now 49, she is still grieving the loss of who she thought would be her forever partner.
“When I was 29, I was living with my parents and feeling a bit lost. I spent a lot of time on the internet, in chat rooms, hanging out with interesting people from all over the world,” the story begins.
“One day I was in the Scotland chat room, hoping to meet some locals before I planned a trip there - but it was full of Americans.
“I was chatting to a 45-year-old man from a small town in the USA who was sweet and funny.
“We exchanged emails - and it all started from there.”
She revealed that within just months of meeting online, the pair were spending as many hours as they could on the phone.
He quickly became her best friend and confidante and vice versa.
However, it was soon enough that she realised that she was actually in love with a man who lives halfway across the world and had never met him saying “I swore I would never do that”.
“The next year, he came to visit and we had a lovely two weeks together. The bond was true and real and I didn’t let him see me cry when I said goodbye,” she continued.
“Pretty soon I was planning a trip to visit him for a good chunk of time, so we could figure out if this was the real deal.”
On the plane “jumping out of my skin” excited to see the man she was in love with, the storyteller was ready to see him.
“I walked from the plane into the terminal looking for his face - but he wasn’t there,” she revealed.
“I headed to the baggage carousel - but he wasn’t there. He hadn’t checked into the airport hotel.”
Coming up with possible solutions as to why he hadn’t showed up, unfortunately she settled on the fact that he changed his mind and didn’t want to see her.
“Had he changed his mind and decided he didn’t want to see me? That’s what I decided to focus on - the only thing that seemed the most logical. He'd changed his mind, chickened out.”
Unsure of what to do, she tried calling his apartment multiple times but to no avail. She then made a deal with herself to call him one more time the following day then leave it.
The following day arrives and she picks up the phone to call and someone finally answered, delivering the worst possible news.
“They’d found him 30 minutes before and he was dead. He’d been making coffee for the trip to come and get me; and he’d collapsed,” she revealed.
“As it turned out, he had an undiagnosed heart condition. He went quickly and peacefully.”
The man’s cousin drove to her to pick her up where she then took her to meet his kids who took her where he lived.
“Everyone was so welcoming and so kind, even while dealing with their own grief. I stayed for three weeks before I went on my way. I knew he would want me to continue my trip - and that’s what I did.
“Since then, I’ve found a new family through his. We’ve taken road trips together, and his brother and sister-in-law came to visit me a few years ago.
“I still think about him a lot. His smile, his laugh, his dirty jokes. Our time together was short but it was just so special.
“Since then, I’ve had my share of good and bad dates. I got married, divorced and now I’m happily settled with a lovely man I met on a dating app (that’s not a bad story actually).
“I’ll never forget my American bloke though."
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