by K. Bella

Created on: August 06, 2008

Everything happens for a reason.

Some choose to believe it, others choose to ignore it. I, for one, have faith that this old clich is not only true, but have clung to its significance through good times and bad. My husband, for example, is someone who I did not coincidentally meet and fall in love with, but rather, the very man that God had destined for me to spend my life with. Call me a romantic, but this is very much my belief and deeply woven into the thread of who I am.

David and I met Ange and Matt and Jeannine and Jason on our honeymoon. We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to tour Italy for nearly two weeks with a great group of people okay, a group of people, some of whom were great. It was our first evening in Rome (and first dinner as a tour group) and David and I entered the dining room like two kids in a cafeteria on the first day at a new school. We stood in the doorway, holding hands (as all good honeymooners should) and looking around with nervous smiles plastered across our faces, desperately searching for two vacant seats at a table with quasi-normal looking people. We eventually noticed two empty chairs at the table directly to our left. The seven fellow tourists whom occupied the table appeared harmless, so we hesitantly took our places.

As the evening began and the meal was served, we made small talk with our dinner companions and quickly realized that they weren't so bad after all. (David and I had been informed of several horror stories of obnoxious travelers and quirky tourists who all too often appear on such European vacations.)

Matt and Angie were from Pennsylvania, not too far from our home in Upstate New York.

Jeannine and Jason were from Ontario, Canada. Again, not too far from our home in Upstate New York.

These two couples quickly became our travel buddies, and before long, we were all like old friends. The girls enjoyed shopping for Italian leather and fine Murano glass while the guys took their time sampling every flavor of gelato Italy had to offer, and admiring the fine Italian architecture. The best part of our newly found friendships was the instant ability to have pictures taken in front of landmarks and monuments without having to utilize the length of your husband's arm and creating the double- (or triple) chin effect while taking a self portrait. Yep. It was perfect. We were a group of six made in Heaven.

Just nine short months following our tour of Italy and keeping in touch via email, we decided it was time

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