Born to love!
Lauri and Adam were born to be together!
Saturday 25th October 2008
I was at work when my phone beeped with a message from a number I didn't recognise.
It's Adam Stateman, I read. Fancy having a drink for old times' sake?'
Talk about spooky. Only the night before, I'd been chatting to my mate, Carly, 28, about Adam.
'It must be 20 years since I saw him,' I said over a glass of wine in the pub. 'I'd love to see what he's like these days.'
Adam was Carly's big brother. But although I saw her all the time, my path hadn't crossed with Adam's since he was 11 and I was 5. His mum, Sue Stateman, now 55, was best mates with my mum, Judi Frankenthal, 50, so growing up, we'd forever been round each other's houses. Back then, Carly and my big sister, Claire, now 27, had often left me out
of their games.
'You're too young to hang round with us,' they'd insist, all of 6 and 7 themselves!
Adam, 11, had been my knight in shining armour.
'Come over here, Lauri,' he'd say. 'Why don't I show you a game on my computer?'
It wasn't long before I'd developed my first ever crush.
'I'm going to marry you when we grow up,' I'd told him one afternoon, as he gave me a piggy back round the living room.
'Ooh, Judi, wouldn't that be lovely?' his mum had giggled.
'Adam and Lauri getting married. We'd be family!'
Mum and Sue were like sisters anyway. Sue had even picked my name for me. As time passed, Adam was out more and more when Mum, Claire and I went round, and, eventually,
I stopped going along to visit. So although I'd stayed in touch with Carly and saw her mum, years passed without me seeing Adam.
'He works in IT,' Carly said now.
Still into computers!
'He's single at the moment. Just came out of a relationship in fact,' she added.
And now, he'd sent me a text!
A drink sounds fun, I replied. One night next week?
I was single, too, having split from my boyfriend of nine years, Warren, a few weeks earlier.
I felt strangely nervous on 1 October 2006, when Mum dropped me off at a pub called the Hub, in Chapel Allerton, not far from our home in Seacross, Leeds. It was only when I got inside the pub that I realised I didn't have a clue what Adam looked like now! But then
I spotted a dark-haired guy sitting on his own.
'Adam?' I asked hesitantly.
'Yes,' he smiled, getting up to give me a peck on the cheek. 'How are you, Lauri?'
He wasn't a bit like I remembered him. The geeky 11-year-old who'd felt sorry for me all those years earlier was now a strapping 6ft 3in hunk! To be honest, it felt a bit silly at first, almost as if we'd never met. But then we got chatting about my job as an art teacher and his career in computing and, before long, we were laughing about the old days. The night flew by.
'I'm really glad Carly gave me your number,' he smiled.
'I'm really glad, too,' I agreed.
On the way home, I couldn't help feeling a tingle of excitement. Adam obviously felt it, too, because the next day, while I was at work, he sent me a text.
I can't stop thinking about you.
Within a month, we'd started calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend, and in November, he took me to see his mum. It was only a few weeks since I'd last seen her through Carly, but she couldn't resist a joke.
'So Adam, are you going to introduce us to your new girlfriend?' she grinned, as she invited us both in. Then, 10 months later, in September 2007, Adam made me the happiest woman alive by asking me to marry him. So, on 13 July this year, we tied the knot at Leeds 17, a restaurant and ballroom in the city.
Afterwards, Mum gave a speech.
'I'm so happy that Sue's son and my daughter have come together like this,' she beamed. 'My best friend and I have finally become sisters.'
I still can't believe that 20 years after I vowed to marry Adam, I've actually done it. But the pressure's on now. I reckon Mum and Sue are looking forward to sharing a grandchild…