Here is a quick riddle. How do two people walk down the aisle but take 45 more years to say I do? The answer is that they are taking part in the greatest love story ever witnessed. If you are someone who doesn’t believe in soulmates then stop reading here because this story will force you to examine everything you thought you once knew about love.
In 1969 Raymond Heiber and Helen Klinger met for the first time. Raymond was the ring bearer at his uncle Ron’s wedding and Helen was the flower girl for her sister Charlotte. The two children walked slowly down the aisle together and looking back now say that the connection was already there. This chance meeting would cause the pair to become friends, as they would meet at family picnics, and various get-togethers.
As they grew older and were no longer brought everywhere by their parents they started to drift apart. Raymond would join the navy, get married and have a son. Helen too would marry and have four children of her own. Yet serendipity was not finished with them.
Tragically Raymond’s wife died and Helen’s marriage ended in divorce. The pair were now in their 50s and alone. As chance would have it, Ron and Charlotte were celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary and both were invited. Raymond decided to call Helen and they instantly knew they were a match that was always waiting to happen.
What they failed to see through the perspective of youth was now glaringly obvious to them both and they wasted little time. They dated for four months before walking down the aisle for the second time together. They married, and quite appropriately Ron and Charlotte were the ring bearer and flower woman.
Raymond and Helen first walked down the aisle together at ages 6 and 7. 45 years later they did it one last time. In their more mature years they realized the incredible love they shared quickly and wasted no time in getting married. While they say they wish they had married all those years ago they are grateful for the life experiences they went through in order to find each other again.
Life really can’t be planned no matter how much we try. There will always be surprises around the corner but if we are lucky, things will work out the way they were always meant to. Sometimes it can feel like life has a plan for you and you just need to lean into it. Sometimes serendipity can’t be escaped.