Rekindling with first love....experiences/advice

[SurielShmuriel]

Has anybody ever rekindled their relationship with their first love after many years apart / other relationships? If so I would love to hear your experiences and words of wisdom please.

I am recently divorced, parent of one. He is also recently divorced, no children. We have stayed in contact through the years on and off - just light chat and pleasantries etc. Both had the odd drunk dial type message where we have admitted to still carrying a bit of a torch.

We have arranged to go on a "first date" this weekend, after a few weeks of talking every day. I am nervous, excited, anxious and just looking for stories to help me think.

After more than 25 years of no contact we are back together, better than it ever was and planning to get married, I feel like we are back to where we should have been, but clear that we have no regrets about the children we have had in marriage with other people (not well worded but hope you get the sense of what I mean) We are incredibly lucky to be back together, in many ways it was a chance encounter, I couldn't be happier.

Words of experience... We do talk about the past but in a way of looking to the future. All the things I loved and admired about him are still there so in many ways it was easy to move along quite quickly, I wasn't second guessing his intentions or worrying that he might not be genuine. I hope you have a great date! I knew on our first date after all those years that I still loved him dearly.

Yes similar to @Amsooverthis , 24 years apart and we came back together. What’s more it was a very innocent teenage romance of only a few weeks, we were 17 (late 90s), I was an exchange student from NZ to a small village in Europe!

I thought of him fondly over the years but not in any sense of what could have been - I came back to NZ and my high school and my normal life resumed. In fact he wrote me a letter (this is how old we are - no email) when I returned saying he missed me and was going to come and visit NZ. My mum was quite strict and I knew I wouldn’t be allowed a boy to stay so I panicked and threw out the letter and never wrote back 😳

I remember looking him up when Facebook launched but he seemed to be married or engaged so I didn’t make contact. He contacted me in late 2022 as my abusive marriage was falling apart … a series of amazing coincidences conspired to us both being in the same city (where neither of us live) for work and we had dinner. It was ⚡️ for us both (in a way for me that it hadn’t been in the 90s) but nothing happened then as I wanted to keep my side of the street clean in the wake of my divorce. 6 months later we met in New York for a week and since then it has been 😍😍😍

He is the best - I feel so lucky. So kind and consistent and loving, still sees me in some ways as the 17 y.o he claims he fell in love with at first sight back in 1998 (this was news to me 😂). Although my marriage was unhappy, I still feel that my journey was as it was meant to be - without my ex H I wouldn’t have my amazing kids, there wouldn’t have been a way for us to have been together back then without someone making huge sacrifices around family, career etc. We have both been married and have kids.

I hope it all goes well for you @SurielShmuriel - I’ve never been so happy. It is long distance for now but we are planning our future - sometimes I panic about how mad it all is but he has total faith in us which calms me down 🥰

Ahhh me! We first got together when I was 17 and he was 22. Think we lasted a whole 8 months before he left me for someone else.

We maintained sporadic contact over the years in between his couple of relationships.

I ended my unhappy relationship and gave it ago with him. We have now been together 2 years and have a house and baby!

I feel incredibly lucky to have him back. He was my true love. Never felt such a connection with anyone else I have been with ❤️

Yes! And it ended in marriage and two kids. The love was already there, the friendship was already there, and we knew each others families/pasts/temperaments. Often (most days in fact) I feel incredibly lucky that it worked out this way.