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It sounds like something straight out of a cheeseball Rachel McAdams/Ryan Gosling flick: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, man finds and marries woman 50 years later. But for Diane Harris and Rodney Day, the Hollywood ending is reality.Day must have drifted off to sleep, because when he woke up, the car was in a ditch, and his girlfriend had gone through the windshield. The sweethearts were taken to different medical centers -- Day was in the military and went to a local Air Force base for treatment, while Harris went to a nearby hospital.
Diane Harris's mother did not approve of the pairing, so the elder Harris used the accident as an opportunity to break the couple up. Mom told both teens that the other one wanted to end it, and Harris and Day never saw each other again.
Fast-forward 50 years to this April. Harris had been married and divorced twice, and Day became a widower in 2007. Day tracked down his high school sweetheart and sent her a letter. The two began emailing, and the couple married on October 17 at an Elks Lodge in Napa, Calif. Day told the New York Post, "It was like 50 years apart hadn't happened." (Want a good cry? Watch the video clip of the nuptials at the Napa Valley Register's site.)
You know what we love about this story, beyond the usual "love stands the test of time" schmaltz? That this reunion did not happen as a result of Facebook or any other social networking site.
You sometimes see the "OMG! My wife left me for her high school sweetheart!" story, but this is just about a guy who sent a letter and hoped to rekindle an old flame. (It's not always that sinister; this Florida couple rekindled their high-school romance on Facebook 30 years later.)
Still, there's something nice about a paper letter. As now newlywed Rodney Day told the New York Post, "I wasn't sure if it was her, and I'm not good on the phone, so I just wrote her a letter ... I figured that if it's not her, she can just wad it up."
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Sunday 25 October
By Laura
What a truly romantic story. I wish them both all the happines in the world! They deserve it and it just proves that love conquers all.
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Sunday 25 October
By Anne
We started to date our senior year in high school. We dated for 12 years. I left and regretted it the second I did it- I prayed he would stop me- he didn't. For two people who communicted so well we blew it on that day that changed our lives. 5 years later we saw each other and knew we still loved each other but never spoke of it- we couldn't - I married someone I didn't love and had my 2 yr. old son with me when we saw each other. He got married and had 3 children and I remarried to a wonderful man. Fast forward to our 35th rreunion. We saw each other for the first time in 20+ years and talked, shook our heads, cried, laughed, reminised and discoved neither of us really wanted to break up- we each blame ourselves for not speaking up. We answered questions each other has wanted to know the answer to for all those years. We covered so much in those wee hours of the morning. It was the toughest conversation ever and yet the best in so many ways. Neither of us will cheat nor ask the other one to- we returned to our lives with no further contact. Our next reunion is coming up and I do hope he attends again. Our love never will die for each other but in reality there can be more than one love- but I can honestly say he is my first love and my only TRUE love. He knows that now and that has to be enough for me.
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Sunday 25 October
By john prentis
Be careful. As a 55 year old guy, I wrote a letter to an old College
love. Unfortunately for me, she had recently broken up with the
boyfriend she'd had for four years after she'd divorced her husband.
I know... I should have figured she was emotionally needy and
vulnerable just then and shied away. I foolishly didn't, although we
were platonic about the reconnection. What I got was about 2 months
of incredibly poignant emailed avowals of endless love, and of how
she loved me more deeply than I could ever know. After which (and
I'll omit the truly ugly details) she proceeded to viciously
eviscerate me. Luckily, I've not met many truly vicious people in my
life, but this one woman now rests, uncontested, as the worst human
being I have ever personally known. So a word of caution to anyone
thinking of reconnecting with an old love: be very careful.... very
careful.
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Sunday 25 October
By Dan
Brought to mind an old movie I remember seeing , The Promise .
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Sunday 25 October
By Jon
Dan
"The Promise" is a Grade A "sleeper" --I liked it so much I even downloaded the soundtrack by Melissa Manchester
Jon
Sunday 25 October
By beverly
the movie was THE PROMISE KATHLEEN QUINLAN AND STEPHEN COLLINS EXCELLENT MOVIE
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Monday 26 October
By Rafael Rodriguez II
I don't understand why they waited so long, i mean just because you hear your boy friend or girl friend wants to end the relationship. There is always one or the other who doesn't give up trying til they get their x-back. They would of never left so many years go by.
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Sunday 25 October
By janice7920
Twenty-five years ago, my mom also lied to me about a relationship. I met the guy of my dreams and my mom didn't like him because his parents owned a bar (huh?)...His car broke down and I wanted to take the bus to meet him but mom told me no buses ran on that route. Being naive and trusting of my mom, I believed her. When he called, she told him I didn't want to go see him so he stopped calling; I was deeply depressed for a long time because I knew he was special but I was young and naive about just about everything so I never questioned my mom - why would she *lie* to me? A long time afterward, when I figured out the bus really did go that route, I was very hurt by what my mom did and today, it seems so dumb that I fell for that lie. I always wondered what happened to that boy.
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Sunday 25 October
By Jon
Dear Janice
You can find anyone on the net today!!!!!
IF you don't know exactly how to do it ask around --people will help you I am sure
Just try Googling his name, where he lived --Classmates.com / mylife.com etc etc
don't give up
hope this helps
Jon
Sunday 25 October
By carol
No kidding. My grandma and great grandma pulled some of junk.
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Sunday 25 October
By gastonmb
Reminds me of the love of my life,it's been over 30years and i still love this lady with all my heart.If you're out there Susey i just wanted you to know you have alwats been loved.
MSB
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Sunday 25 October
By Sylvia
I'm not even close to my 60's. But hearing all these stories of finding your 1st love gives me hope. I've been in love with the one person for 28 years; I gave him my heart completely. Because of many different circumstances we didn’t marry. He continued to call me through out the years and I accepted, but I began to feel guilty. I knew he was married and I felt it wasn’t right to continue even if they were just conversations. My thought- What if he was my husband? I wouldn’t approve nor appreciate it. We haven’t spoken in 10 years and not a day goes by that I don’t think of him. I have had 2 failed marriages and currently engaged. I can't give a firm date to my Fiancé because I can get over the man I'm truly in love with. I'm hoping for us to someday meet again like many of the stories I've read. I know he's still married and we only live 20 miles from each other but the thought of "maybe he’s thinking of me too" keeps me happy.
I loved reading all your stories.
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Sunday 25 October
By Kim
Love this story! I absolutely believe that love is the greatest human emotion and that love does conquer all. In this world where almost every news story is cynical in nature and people in general are cynical - its wonderful to read something like this. We all have our stories, and I have often wondered how it is that although I am married to a wonderful man that I still think about my first love and how devastated I was after life circumstance took us from each other. I feel guilty sometimes for the love that I still have for him. We are a world apart - he is from Germany, and I quit trying to find him many years ago and have since married my husband (whom I adore and would never leave or cheat on even if my first love came on the scene ironically) - I have often wondered why I still think about my Walter. Perhaps it is just fate waiting to happen and for life circumstance to bring us together again someday. What a nice thought - and now I don't have to feel guilty for loving my husband and still feeling love in my heart for my first love. Thanks for running this story.
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Sunday 25 October
By Polly
What a wonderful story. Dreams do come true.
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Sunday 25 October
By Dolly1213
Just a few words about my choice. My Mother loved me very much and was a wonderful Mom to me. However, she did not like my choice for a husband. She never said he was not good enough for me, but indicated it in so many words. However, when I decided to marry my choice, she said all she wanted was for me to be happy and even went to my wedding. We had many,many happy years and I have never been sorry for my marriage. He has passed on now and I miss him and am lonely for him, but my children have kept me going and I love them so much, they have their choice of whom to marry and that is O.K. with me.
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Sunday 25 October
By KG
Melinda; I am sorry you don't have respect for others' opinions, as I do of yours, however dear, I do speak from observation and experience. I have overtime, heard stories and seen many marriages to past loves turn ugly. I have also heard stories of conquering the odds, against what others have said wouldn't last.
Being a skeptic, I don't wish this couple ill will, but can't help why they didn't do all in their power to reunite after the car accident?
I do know full well what a controlling mother or mother in law can do to marriages.
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Sunday 25 October
By Rose
I am glad some people are still writing letters AND getting results as well out of it. It seems to be a lost art, and I thought I was the only one who still writes letters to old friends. This is a true love story and shows what happens when one is willing to take a chance and never gives up hope.
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Sunday 25 October
By Escalonz
The lesson of life here is "Mommies should never interfere with their kids love life." I know it seems so right but nevertheless it stands to reason that it is their right and they alone are responsible for a right or wrong decision. Can we say this hard fast rule applies after their eighteenth birthday?
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Sunday 25 October
By Jean
I don't think I'll ever stop thinking about my first love. We haven't seen each other in 35 years and I still can't get him out of my mind. I wish there was a website that was dedicated to finding lost loves.
If you know of one please post the website.
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Sunday 25 October
By Sue Halpern
My mother did something similar. I was 13 or 14, and on the way home on a local bus to the airport in New Orleans/Kenner. There were several young men heading to the N.O. airport to be inducted in the airforce in TX. We got to all talking and we accompanied them to the airport. We exchangeed addresses had gave a hug a peck of a kiss as they headed to the plan. My mother, when the letters arrive, wrote to him and told him to never ever contact me again. I never knew what she had done but went on with my life. Ir was a few years later in Natchez (I was still a teenager) and I accidently ran into him again; that is when I found out what my mother had done. We were both involved in our lives with other people at that time. His name was FRED and I wonder what happened to him. He actually was only about 4 years older than me.
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