Sometimes, when you meet the person you’re destined to be with, you just know.
That was the case for Len Allbrighton and Jeanette Steer when they first met as teens in the 1960s. The couple immediately fell in love and planned to marry. But then Jeanette’s parents — and life — had other plans.
Engaged to Be Married
When Steer was 18 years old, she met 19-year-old Allbrighton on the Isle of Wight. They were both there as trainee nurses and found they had a ton in common. They got engaged and planned to move to Australia together to start a new life, reports Daily Mail.
But at the time, the age of consent to marry in the U.K. was 21, and Steer’s parents did not give their permission. So, the couple was forced to put their engagement on hold. Eventually, Allbrighton decided to follow the dream and move to Australia. He had never been happy in the U.K. and hoped that, eventually, his love would follow him.
However, Steer’s parents would not allow her to move to Australia, and she was forced to write to her fiancé to break off the engagement. He was left with a broken heart and the plot of land he had purchased to build a home with Steer on.
A Love Not Forgotten
Eventually, both parties moved on and fell in love with new partners. Allbrighton met a woman, built the house on the plot of land, and became a father of three. Steer also married and remained on the Isle of Wight. She and her naval officer husband had two kids of their own.
All was fine for decades, although the formerly engaged couple thought about each other often. When Allbrighton’s marriage ended in 2015, he decided it was time to look Steer up.
He went to the Isle of Wight and looked up her address at the local library. Then, he went to her house and stood outside until she came out to see what he wanted.
“I was daunted not knowing what her reaction would be or if I would even see her,” he recalled. “I went on the off-chance. It was not an easy place to find, but I did.”
According to the publication, Steer didn’t recognize him initially, with a beard and all those years between them. Then it all came flooding back.
“I nearly died when I realized it was him standing by my garden fence,” she said. “I was glad he looked me up — I thought of him a lot at the time.”
Fated to Be Together
At the time, Steer had to send Allbrighton away. She was still married and didn’t want to hurt her husband, so she lied and said the man was a stranger looking for directions. Allbrighton left, but neither he nor Steer forgot about the interaction. Two years later, when Steer’s husband passed away from cancer, she looked Allbrighton up from an address he’d put on a Christmas card to her.
It wasn’t long until love blossomed again, this time with the couple in their seventies. They married last February with the blessing of all their children and great-grandchildren. One of Steer’s daughters even gave her away, says Daily Mail.
“We fell in love again,” Allbrighton said. “We read poems to each other and exchanged rings. I got emotional when reading mine. I was overwhelmed with my love for her.”
Embracing Life’s Quirks
This story is so powerful because it reminds us that love can conquer all, no matter how many naysayers, years, or even life events get in the way.
It’s nice to think that even though this relationship didn’t work out at first, the couple can still have their time together. Plus, they did so many meaningful things, like finding spouses and having children, in between.
It’s a nice story for all of us to remember when things get dark, or we feel like life isn’t going the way we’d planned. Sometimes, we’re meant to do other things in our lives before we can revisit what feels like a big moment or relationship.
We don’t always understand the weird twists of fate or unfair circumstances we face. But sometimes, life has other plans, and our moment is yet to come.
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