Judy and I met 29 years ago when she came to my office for the first time. She became my client and I became her stock broker, but I always felt there was more to it than that. From the beginning we felt a bond, but because we were each married, and because of my fiduciary relationship with her, we set our feelings aside. Our feelings for each other were like the elephant in the parlor, but we left them unspoken and proceeded to build a professional relationship for the next 18 years.
We were not close geographically. She lived in Gardnerville and I in Los Angeles. But because we had become so close over time, we still shared many of our joys and sorrows with each other by telephone. Judy and I became trusted sounding boards for each other and our conversations always included both personal and investment issues. I listened and counseled her when it became evident her marriage should not continue, and she did the same for me.
As our lives changed, we began to view our relationship in a different light. Finally, I called her and invited her for our first date; a week on an expedition boat on the Amazon River.
Her reply: "You bet!" That was two and a half years ago. Soon after, I retired from my business.
Judy and I have been together ever since and we are happier than we have ever been in our lives. (We have subsequently been to Iceland, Macchu Picchu, Argentina, Chile, and Italy (10 days in Tuscany). We spent last Valentine's Day in Fairbanks, Alaska (-20 degrees) and will spend this Valentine's in a somewhat warmer Tahiti.
